?fer 


GpEK-AND  -ROMAN  •  STOICISM 
D-SOME-Of-ITS-DISCIPLES 


CHAS-H-STANLEY-  DAVIS 


IN 

Rabbi  Isadora  Isaacson 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 
AND  SOME  OF  ITS  DISCIPLES 


GREEK   AND    ROMAN 

STOICISM  AND  SOME 

OF   ITS   DISCIPLES 


EPICTETUS    •    SENECA    AND 
MARCUS   AURELIUS 


BY 

CHAS.  H.  STANLEY  DAVIS  M.D.,  PH.D. 

AUTHOR   OF  A   HISTORY  OF   EGYPT     •     EDITOR  AND   COMMENTA- 
TOR OF  THE   EGYPTIAN    BOOK   OF  THE    DEAD   •   MEMBER 
OF    THE    SOCIETE     D'ANTHROPOLOGIE     OF    PARIS 
THE   ROYAL   ARCHAEOLOGICAL    INSTITUTE 
OF  GREAT  BRITAIN     •     THE  AMERI- 
CAN     ORIENTAL      SOCIETY 
ETC.,    ETC. 


BOSTON 

HERBERT  B.  TURNER  &  CO. 
MCMIII 


Copyright,   1903,  by 
Herbert  B.   Turner  &  Co. 


Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall 


IN  MEMORIAL 


I 


• 

,    «    , 

, 


Printed  by  Carl  H.  Heintzemann,  Boston 


CONTENTS 

Preface  vii 

'The  Greek  Religion  3 

Greek  Philosophy  19 

Greek  Philosophy  —  Socrates  34 

-founders  of  Stoicism  4$< 

Doctrines  of  Stoicism  06 

Roman  Stoicism  85* 

Roman  Jurisprudence  103 

Relation  to  Christianity  in- 
Some  Roman  Stoics  : 

Epictetus  131 

Seneca  145 

Marcus  Aurelius  163 

Selections  from  Epictetus  188 

Selections  from  Seneca  220 

Selections  from  Marcus  Aurelius  245 


PREFACE 

STOICISM  was  the  noblest  system  of  morals 
developed  within  the  pale  of  Greek  philoso- 
phy. For  over  two  centuries  it  was  the  creed, 
if  not  the  philosophy,  of  the  Roman  people, 
whose  type  of  character  from  the  first  was 
moulded  on  the  Stoic  lines. 

The  multitude  of  great  and  memorable 
truths  taught  by  the  Spanish  courtier,  the 
Phrygian  slave,  and  the  Roman  emperor, 
inculcating  as  they  did  the  loftiest  morality, 
high  standards  of  action,  of  absolute  self-sac- 
rifice for  the  sake  of  virtue,  and  representing 
most  powerfully  the  moral  and  religious  con- 
victions of  the  age,  no  doubt  prepared  the 
way  for  Christianity,  as  well  as  tinctured  the 
thought  of  modern  ages. 

Stoicism  contributed  the  noblest  men,  and 
the  loftiest  conceptions  of  virtue  and  morality 
that  we  meet  with  in  history  before  the  time 
of  Paul.  In  fact,  Stoicism  is  not  only  a  system 

•  • 
Vll 


PREFACE 

of  philosophy,  but  also  of  religion,  and  as  such 
it  was  regarded  by  its  first  adherents. 

In  order  that  the  reader  may  better  com- 
prehend the  origin  and  progress  of  the  Stoic 
doctrines,  a  brief  account  is  given  of  the  Greek 
religion  and  philosophy,  both  of  which  un- 
doubtedly had  a  considerable  influence  upon 
the  rise  of  the  Stoic  philosophy. 

The  selections  from  Epictetus,  Seneca,  and 
Marcus  Aurelius  have  been  made  with  great 
care,  and  they  comprise  some  of  the  noblest 
thoughts  of  these  disciples  of  Stoicism. 

C,  H.S.  D. 


Vlll 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 
AND  SOME  OF  ITS  DISCIPLES 


I 

THE  GREEK  RELIGION 

HERBERT  SPENCER  has  shown  that  man's 
imperishable  love  of  life  and  his  aspirations 
for  a  higher,  a  harmonious,  and  an  assured  in- 
dividual existence,  constitute  the  primal  foun- 
tain of  all  human  motives,  and  is  the  great  in- 
centive of  all  human  endeavor  and  progress. 
Ethics  or  philosophy  does  not  inspire  men 
with  an  assured  hope  in  an  unending  exist- 
ence, and  no  system  can  prevail  that  has  not 
had  its  foundations  already  laid  upon  the 
primitive  rocks  of  human  nature. 

We  find  in  the  history  of  all  religions  that 
the  underlying  belief  was  an  effort  to  relieve 
and  raise  humanity,  and  however  lofty  the 
ideal  of  the  old  teachers  of  religion,  it  is  still 
nothing  more  than  an  ideal.  Plato  said, "  To 
desire  is  to  love  that  which  as  yet  we  do  not 
possess,  that  which  is  not  and  of  which  we 
feel  the  lack."  The  intense  yearning  after  the 

3 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

Divine,  a  cause,  the  principle  which  gave  us 
being,  we  find  showing  itself  all  through  the 
pagan  world,  and  illumined  here  and  there  by 
a  few  immortal  truths.  From  the  beginning 
man  has  blindly  and  in  ignorance  groped  his 
way  slowly  onward  and  upward  after  what  has 
ever  been  beyond  his  power  to  define. 

Paul  said  of  certain  people,  "  that  they 
should  seek  the  Lord  if  haply  they  may  feel 
after  him  and  find  him."  The  ethnic  reli- 
gions are  the  effort  of  man  to  feel  after  God. 
They  partially  satisfied  a  great  hunger  of  the 
human  heart,  and,  no  doubt,  in  a  great  degree, 
they  directed  the  human  conscience  toward 
the  right.  We  find  in  the  sacred  books  of  all 
nations,  the  Bible,  Koran,  Vedas,  Zendavesta, 
the  laws  of  Confucius,  a  vast  amount  of  fin- 
ished truth,  in  the  most  childlike  form,  with- 
out any  attempt  at  formal  reasoning,  poured 
forth  from  the  mind  by  spontaneous  inspira- 
tion. All  Oriental  religions  are  the  natural 
products  of  the  religious  instinct  in  man 
working  itself  out  in  accordance  with  the 
principle  of  natural  evolution.  And  in  process 
of  time  religious  progress  as  well  as  advance 

4 


THE  GREEK  RELIGION 

in  philosophy,  proves  that  their  growths  are 
an  increment  of  both,  and  also  a  cleansing 
from  mythology.  A  writer  has  said,  that  a  re- 
ligion should  not  be  judged  by  the  amount 
of  ancient  mythic  dross  clinging  to  it,  or  the 
puerilities  of  superadded  theological  dogma- 
tism and  priestly  discipline,  but  from  the 
amount  of  pure  spiritual  food  it  contains, 
also  the  practical  help  it  gives  towards  right- 
eous happy  living.  We  read  in  the  Fravashis, 
"  We  worship  the  souls  of  the  holy  men  and 
women,  born  at  any  time  or  in  any  place, 
whose  consciences  struggle,  or  will  struggle, 
or  have  struggled  for  the  good." 

Over  five  thousand  years  ago  the  sacred 
books  of  Egypt  taught  the  unity  and  spiritu- 
ality of  God,  a  recognition  of  the  Divine  in 
nature,  the  feeling  that  the  Deity  is  in  all  life, 
in  all  form,  in  all  change  as  well  as  in  what  is 
permanent  and  stable.  The  oldest  of  the  reli- 
gious texts  which  have  come  down  to  us,  dat- 
ing at  least  3000  B.C.,  teaches  the  doctrine  of 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  it  appears  as 
a  completed  system  with  a  long  history  of  de- 
velopment behind  it.  We  find  a  belief  in  a  fu- 

5 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN   STOICISM 

ture  judgment  besides  a  morality  of  justice 
and  mercy.  The  Egyptian  religion  through- 
out breathes  a  lofty  morality,  and  a  grand  con- 
ception of  law  and  responsibility.  The  scribe 
Pentaur  wrote, "  Thou  alone  existant,  the  cre- 
ator of  being."  "In  thy  rest,  thou  watched 
over  men,  and  considered  what  is  best  for  the 
beasts As  high  as  heaven,  as  wide  stretch- 
ing as  the  earth,  as  deep  as  the  sea,  the  gods 
fall  down  before  thy  majesty,  extolling  the 
spirit  of  him  who  has  created  all  things. . . . 
Praise  to  thy  spirit  because  thou  hast  made 
us  ;  we  are  thy  creatures,  thou  hast  placed  us 
in  the  world." 

In  the  Prisse  Papyrus,  dating  from  the 
Xllth  Dynasty  (2400  B.C.),  the  Fourth  Com- 
mandment is  found  in  almost  identical  terms: 
"  The  son  who  hearkens  to  the  word  of  his 
father,  he  shall  grow  old  thereby."  Other 
texts  exhort  to  the  study  of  wisdom,  to  re- 
gard and  respect  parents  and  superiors,  to 
mercifulness,  generosity,  discretion,  integrity, 
sobriety,  chastity,  and  the  like.  We  read  in 
the  Book  of  the  ~Dead,  "  I  did  that  which  was 
right ;  I  hated  evil ;  I  gave  bread  to  the  hun- 

6 


THE  GREEK  RELIGION 

gry  and  water  to  the  thirsty,  clothing  to  the 
naked,  succor  to  him  who  was  in  need."  "  I 
harmed  not  a  child.  I  injured  not  a  widow ; 
there  was  neither  beggar  nor  needy  in  my 
time ;  none  were  anhungered,  widows  were 
cared  for  as  though  their  husbands  were  still 
alive."  "I  did  that  which  was  pleasing  to  my 
parents ;  I  was  the  joy  of  my  brethren,  the 
friend  of  my  companions,  honorably  minded 
towards  all  my  fellow  citizens.  I  gave  bread 
to  the  hungry  and  shelter  to  the  traveler  ;  my 
door  stood  open  to  him  who  entered  from 
without,  and  I  refreshed  him."  Many  of  the 
Vedic  hymns  rise  to  the  purest  heights  of 
moral  consciousness,  and  faith  in  immortal- 
ity is  often  expressed.  In  ancient  Brahman- 
ism,  its  hymns  and  prayers,  its  epics,  its  phil- 
osophy, were  all  intensely  spiritual,  and  the 
same  tendency  to  spiritual  worship  exists  un- 
changed in  the  Hindu  mind  to-day.  The 
Laws  of  Manu  thus  sum  up  the  system  of 
morals  of  the  Brahmins  :  "Contentment,  the 
act  of  returning  good  for  evil,  temperance, 
purity,  repression  of  that  which  is  sensual,  the 
knowledge  of  the  holy  books,  union  with  the 

7 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

supreme  soul,  and  the  avoidance  of  anger  - 
these   are   the  virtues  which  constitute  our 
\duty." 

Buddha,  through  his  personal  influence  and 
his  ability  to  speak  to  the  heart,  his  unsullied 
purity,  and  the  spirit  of  his  life  and  work, 
inculcated  a  lofty  system  of  morals  which 
exerted  a  mighty  influence  upon  millions  of 
people,  who  were  thus  saved  from  the  depths 
of  barbarism,  brutality,  and  selfishness.1 

We  read  in  the  Lalita  Vistara:  "  From  east 
to  west  the  air  thrills  with  the  accents  of  Bud- 
dha, a  sweet,  melodious  sound  which  goes 
straight  to  the  heart."  Said  Buddha : 

"  The  real  treasure  is  that  laid  up  by  man  or 
woman 

Through  charity  and  piety,  temperance  and  self- 
control. 

The  treasure  thus  hid  is  secure  and  passes  not 
away, 

Though  he  leaves  the  fleeting  riches  of  this  world  : 
thus  man  takes  with  him 

1  Says  Max  Miiller  :  "  If  I  were  asked  under  what  sky 
the  human  mind  has  developed  some  of  its  choicest  gifts, 
has  most  deeply  pondered  on  the  great  problems  of  life, 
and  has  found  solutions  of  some  of  them  which  well  deserve 
attention  even  of  those  who  have  studied  Plato  and  Kant, 
I  should  point  to  India. ' 

8 


THE  GREEK  RELIGION 

A  treasure  that  no  wrong  of  others,  and  no  thief 

can  steal. 
Let  the  wise  man  do  good  deeds  —  the  treasure 

that  follows  of  itself." 

The  religion  of  Zoroaster  had  in  it  sublime 
anticipations  of  truth  which  made  it  an  ele- 
vating and  salutary  influence  over  the  great 
nation  professing  it. 

The  doctrines  of  Egypt,  India,  and  Persia, 
and  the  thoughts  and  aspirations  of  genera- 
tions of  people  who  had  been  blindly  seeking 
after  a  higher  and  better  life,  are  doubtless 
discovered  in  the  philosophy  of  Greece,  but 
the  spirit  of  Greek  philosophy  is  essentially 
Greek,  and  Oriental  doctrines  were  a  subse- 
quent and  late  admixture  and  infusion.1 

The  general  ideas  of  our  Aryan  or  Indo- 
European  forefathers  are  manifestly  repro- 
duced in  the  fundamental  features  of  Greek 
mythology  and  religion,  but  from  the  earliest 
history  of  Greece  we  find  a  religion  that  had 

1  Professor  Lefevre  has  shown  us  the  relationship  be- 
tween the  Hellenic  and  Hindu,  Assyrian  and  Egyptian  di- 
vinities. Vestiges  of  Phoenician,  Thracian,  and  Syrian  leg- 
ends can  also  be  traced  in  Greek  mythology.  See  Lefevre, 
La  Grece  Antique.  Entretiens  sur  les  Origines  et  les  Croy- 


ances. 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

outgrown  the  naturalistic  religion  of  the  primi- 
tive Aryans,  and  had  become  monotheistic, 
with  a  divinity  essentially  human,  but  which 
became  in  time  specialized  and  idealized.  In 
the  beginning,  religion  as  well  as  philosophy 
had  to  pass  through  a  mythological  period. 
They  were  founded  at  a  time  when  science 
and  methods  of  inquiry  did  not  as  yet  exist. 
But  with  rare  insight  the  ancient  prophets  and 
philosophers  taught  many  moral  truths  which, 
even  in  their  imperfect  form,  proved  an  in- 
valuable source  of  solace  and  help  in  the  tribu- 
lations of  life. 

The  main  idea  in  the  Greek  religion  was  the 
sight  of  something  divine  in  human  nature. 
Each  god  represented  some  human  quality 
carried  to  its  perfection.  To  the  Greeks  every- 
thing beautiful  was  holy ;  they  worshipped 
the  ideal  in  nature  and  human  life  ;  every- 
thing pleasant  to  man  was  acceptable  to  the 
gods.  The  love  of  beauty  was  their  religion, 
and  it  was  an  active  religious  faith  that  was 
the  origin  of  Greek  art.  Their  creed  was  a 
deification  of  the  human  faculties  and  the  pas- 
sions and  affections  of  mankind.  The  Greek 


10 


THE  GREEK  RELIGION 

ideal  was  that  of  development,  the  artistic 
culture  of  all  human  emotions  and  energies, 
the  bringing  forth  of  that  divineness  that  lay 
within  the  nature  of  man.  Says  Schiller :  — 

u  When  o'er  the  form  of  naked  Truth 

The  Muse  had  spread  her  magic  veil, 
Creation  throbbed  with  life  and  youth, 

And  feeling  warmed  the  insensible. 
Then  nature,  formed  for  love's  embrace, 

The  earth  in  brighter  glory  trod ; 
All  was  enchanted  ground,  each  trace 

The  footsteps  of  a  god." 

The  Greeks  taught  first  in  poetry  and  then 
in  plastic  art,  that  man  should  not  bow  down 
to  anything  beneath  him,  and  that  nature  can 
only  become  fit  to  be  worshipped  by  being 
idealized  and  made  human.  Greek  art  origi- 
nated with  the  images  of  the  gods,  and  was 
the  offspring  of  human  emotion  and  aspira- 
tion, and  the  statues  the  Greeks  wrought  and 
the  temples  they  erected,  to  commemorate 
the  acts  and  attributes  of  some  special  deity, 
became  living  objects  of  beauty.  In  fact,  both 
sculpture  and  architecture  emanated  from  the 
same  grand  ideal  conception,  namely,  to  em- 
body in  imperishable  forms  the  attributes  and 

1 1 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

acts  of  their  hero-gods.  The  elemental  char- 
acter of  the  Greek  religion  was  no  doubt 
greatly  influenced  by  the  sculptors,  and  kept 
always  before  the  eyes  of  a  worshipping  peo- 
ple the  divine  attributes  of  purity,  wisdom, 
serene  benignity,  and  noble  elevation  of  soul. 
"  What  the  philosophers  did  to  lead  upward 
the  minds  of  the  thoughtful,  the  sculptors 
accomplished  for  the  mass  of  the  Greek  peo- 
ple/3 Art,  however,  with  the  Greeks  was  a 
sentiment.  It  was  the  embodiment  of  physi- 
cal beauty  in  its  most  perfect  forms,  and  artis- 
tically rendered  human  emotion,  but  it  did 
not  touch  the  heart.  It  had  its  root  rather  in 
human  philosophy  than  in  divine  spirituality. 
But  the  Greeks  opened  to  themselves  and 
posterity  an  entirely  new  world  wherein  the 
human  mind  had  free  development. 

No  doubt  the  amalgamation  of  two  races 
of  dissimilar  mental  development,  quickened 
mental  impulse,  enlivened  sensuous  emotion, 
and  created  new  images  in  the  world  of  im- 
agination. In  healthful  exuberance  and  power, 
body  and  mind  co-operated  with  each  other, 
and  the  ideas  of  beauty  were  the  generic 

12 


THE  GREEK  RELIGION 

principles  which  emanated  from  the  perfect 
rhythm  of  their  physical,  moral,  and  mental 
organization.  "The  ancient  Greek  saw  in  the 
floating  cloud  a  moving  wing,  in  the  summer 
wind  a  goddess's  whisper,  and  in  the  noise 
and  bubble  of  the  waves,  the  voice  of  the 
old  man  of  the  sea;  to  his  simple  idea  of  the 
things  in  the  world  around  him  he  added  a 
new  sense,  fresh  and  beautiful,  and  so  created 
a  poetry  of  vivid  and  intense  loveliness,  a  re- 
ligion of  winds  and  waves,  a  morality  of  sun- 
light and  spring  glories/' 

The  exuberant  imagination  of  the  Greeks 
inhabited  a  land  well  suited  to  foster  and  nur- 
ture the  fancy  and  imagination.  It  displays  a 
variety  of  surface  and  coast-line  such  as  is  pos- 
sessed by  scarcely  any  other  country  in  the 
world.  The  climate  and  the  aspects  of  nature 
were  favorable  to  develop  an  active  imagina- 
tion, and  to  suggest  images  of  beauty.  The 
ever  changing  color,  in  which  the  deep,  in- 
tense blue  constitutes  the  ground  tone,  and 
at  sunset  the  sides  of  the  mountains  bathed 
in  a  deep,  soft,  yet  quite  vivid  violet  hue; 
this,  with  the  absolutely  intoxicating  fragrance 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

exhaled  in  spring  by  the  spicy  pines  and 
blooming  shrubs,  could  not  help  but  appeal 
to  the  exuberant  imagination  of  the  Greeks. 

Every  city,  every  mountain,  every  fertile 
plain,  every  shady  grove,  or  crystal  stream, 
was  celebrated  in  song  as  the  haunt  of  one  or 
more  of  the  numberless  divinities.  Air,  water, 
earth,  wood,  cornfield,  and  the  homes  of  men, 
were  full  of  divine  life.  "  They  placed  Jupiter 
in  Olympus,  Apollo  in  the  sun,  Neptune  in 
the  sea,  Bacchus  in  the  vintage,  and  Ceres 
among  the  yellow  corn.  Their  imagination 
filled  the  fountains  with  Naiades,  the  woods 
with  Dryades,  and  made  the  sea  teem  with 
the  children  of  Nereus."  The  Greeks  had 
no  doubt  of  the  actual  presence  of  the  gods 
in  these  places  consecrated  to  them.  Says 
Lehrs  (Gott,  Goffer  und  Dam  on  en),  "When 
your  Greek  contemplated  nature  and  the 
feebleness  and  dependence  of  man,  there 
arose  before  him  not  one  God  .  .  .  but  there 
was  a  spontaneous  outbreak  of  the  fullness  of 
life  divine.  He  saw  a  world  of  gods." 

As  all  the  deities  were  the  creations  of  a  po- 
etic imagination,  Herodotus  tells  us  that  Ho- 


THE  GREEK  RELIGION 

mer  and  Hesiod  were  the  framers  of  the  Greek 
theogony,  as  it  was  their  work  which  greatly 
assisted  in  moulding  into  form  the  popular 
ideas  regarding  the  various  gods  which  peo- 
pled heaven  and  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the 
regions  under  the  earth.  Says  Gladstone, 
"The  Iliad  of  Homer  was  a  main  instrument 
in  establishing  the  dominant  features  of  the 
Hellenic  religion/' 

The  Greek  religion  was  filled  with  forms  of 
beauty  and  nobleness.  "  It  was  a  heaven  so  njsar 
at  hand,  that  their  own  heroes  had  climbed 
into  it,  and  became  demi-gods.  It  was  a  heaven 
peopled  with  such  a  variety  of  noble  forms,  that 
they  could  choose  among  them  the  protector 
whom  they  liked  best,  and  possibly  themselves 
be  selected  as  favored  by  some  guardian  deity. 
The  fortunate  hunter,  of  a  moonlight  night, 
might  even  behold  the  graceful  figure  of 
Diana  flashing  through  the  woods  in  pursuit 
of  game,  and  the  happy  inhabitant  of  Cyprus 
come  suddenly  on  the  fair  form  of  Venus 
resting  in  a  laurel-grove.  The  Dryads  could 
be  seen  glancing  among  the  trees,  the  Oreads 
heard  shouting  on  the  mountains,  and  the 

15 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN   STOICISM 

Naiads    found   asleep   by   the   side   of  their 


streams.' 


There  is  much  that  is  noble  and  beautiful 
in  Greek  legendary  faith,  and  it  led  in  time  to 
a  spiritual  conception  of  one  sole  Supreme 
Being,  the  Ruler  of  human  destiny.  To  the 
Greek,  Zeus  was  the  Supreme  Being,  Ruler 
and  Preserver  of  the  universe,  and  Source  of 
Wisdom  and  Justice.  We  read  of  him  in  the 
Iliad  and  Odyssey  as  the  "  Cloud-veiled  One," 
"  Cloud  Compeller  "  "  Thunderer,"  "  Supreme 
Lord,"  "  Father  of  Gods  and  Men."  The 
poorest  and  most  abandoned  might  rely  on  his 
care,  and  the  homeless  beggar  could  claim  his 
powerful  protection  (Odyssey,  vi,  208).  For 
several  centuries,  no  rational  speculation  seems 
to  have  been  entered  upon,  nor  any  inquiry 
made,  with  respect  to  the  origin  of  the  world, 
or  the  first  principle  of  things,  beyond  what 
Homer  and  Hesiod  had  intimated  in  their 
poems. 

But  the  Greeks  finally,  as  Erdmann  says, 
"when  the  unquestioning  acceptance  of  life 
had  yielded  to  reflection,"  came  to  believe  in 
the  rule  of  a  Divine  Providence,  according  to 

16 


THE  GREEK  RELIGION 

justice  and  mercy,  and  while  they  were  de- 
voted to  ritual  and  outward  observances,  and 
as  every  religion  is  deeper  and  purer  than  its 
ritual,  so  we  must  not  judge  the  piety  of  the 
Greeks  by  their  art,  literature,  or  superstitions. 
The  poets  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  century  B.C. 
reflect  the  conviction  which  all  the  higher 
minds  of  Greece  were  coming  to  hold,  that 
the  world  is  under  the  rule  of  one  Divine 
Being,  and  to  the  educated  Greeks  the  old 
religion  had  in  its  essence  passed  away.  The 
religious  sentiment  of  Greece  rose  gradually, 
by  following  its  own  moral  institutions,  to  a 
very  elevated  conception  of  deity,  and  we  can 
trace  all  through  Greek  poetry  down  to  the 
age  of  Pericles,  the  development  of  the  Greek 
conscience  side  by  side  with  advancing  civili- 
zation and  aesthetic  culture.  The  religion  of 
Greece  taught  that  Nature  worked  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  Divine  laws,  and  there  was  recog- 
nized an  indwelling  of  the  Divine  presence  in 
all  natural  phenomena  and  every  visible  creat- 
ed thing,  therefore  the  philosophic  mind  of 
Greece  was  thus  prepared  to  inquire  into  and 
speculate  upon  the  laws  themselves.  It  was 

17 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

the  Greeks  who  first  attempted  to  compre- 
hend the  nature  of  the  human  mind,  and  the 
first  to  attempt  to  solve  the  riddle  of  the  uni- 
verse. The  Greeks  were  also  the  first  to  afford 
us  the  picture  of  personal  inner  development. 


18 


II 

GREEK  PHILOSOPHY 

THE  Stoic  system,  as  such,  owes  its  rise  to  a 
union  of  ethical  and  speculative  elements,  in 
which  both  were  more  definitely  determined 
by  one  another.  In  order  that  we  may  more 
thoroughly  understand  the  rise  of  Stoicism, 
and  the  grounds  on  which  it  is  based,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  very  briefly  consider  some  of 
the  previous  systems  of  Greek  philosophy. 

Although  Greek  philosophy  was  to  a  great 
extent  an  original  conception,  yet  it  was  no 
doubt  somewhat  influenced  by  the  Greek  re- 
ligion, and  also  by  the  metaphysics  of  the 
East.  We  find  that  the  early  Greek  and  In- 
dian philosophers  have  many  points  in  com- 
mon. According  to  Greek  tradition,  Thales, 
Empedocles,  Anaxagoras,  Democritus,  and 
others  visited  Oriental  countries  in  order  to 
study  philosophy.  At  the  advent  of  the  Bud- 
dha the  Jain  sect  had  already  attained  a  prom- 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

inent  position  in  the  religious  world  of  India. 
The  Jains  were  advocates  of  the  development 
theory  ;  hence  their  ideal  was  physical,  men- 
tal, moral,  and  spiritual  perfection.  They 
taught  that  the  universe  is  a  system  by  itself, 
governed  by  laws  inherent  in  its  very  consti- 
tution. The  universe  is  not  for  man  alone, 
but  is  a  theatre  of  evolution  for  all  living 
beings.  The  Jains  taught  that  the  cosmos  has 
no  beginning  and  no  end.  The  search  for  a 
cause  or  origin  is  the  outcome  of  the  inner 
conviction  of  the  human  mind  that  a  state  of 
things  must  be  the  effect  of  sufficient  cause. 
This  doctrine  had  its  influence  on  the  Sankh- 
ya  philosophy,  and  later  on  the  doctrines 
taught  by  some  of  the  Greek  philosophers. 

The  doctrines  of  the  Eleatics,  that  God  and 
the  universe  are  one,  that  everything  existing 
in  multiplicity  has  no  reality,  and  that  think- 
ing and  being  are  identical ;  the  making  a 
complete  abstraction  of  everything  material 
—  all  are  to  be  found  in  the  philosophy  of 
the  Upanishads  and  the  Vedanta  system, 
which  is  its  outcome.  Again,  the  doctrine  of 
Empedocles,  that  nothing  of  all  that  perish- 


20 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY 

eth  ever  is  created,  nothing  ever  really  findeth 
an  end  in  death,  has  its  exact  parallel  in  the 
characteristic  doctrine  of  the  Sankhya  system 
about  the  eternity  and  indestructibility  of 
matter.  But  above  all,  Pythagoras  was  greatly 
indebted  to  Indian  philosophy  and  science. 
In  fact,  almost  all  the  doctrines  ascribed  to 
him,  religious,  philosophical,  mathematical, 
were  known  in  India  in  the  sixth  century, 
B.C.  The  transmigration  theory,  the  assump- 
tion of  five  elements,  the  Pythagorean  theo- 
rem in  geometry,  and  the  mystical  specula- 
tions of  the  Pythagorean  school,  all  have  their 
close  parallels  in  ancient  India.  And  as  all 
subsequent  philosophers  borrowed  from  Pyth- 
agoreanism,  we  can  see  the  influence  of  Indian 
doctrines  in  many  subsequent  schools  of  phil- 
osophy, more  particularly,  perhaps,  with  the 
Neo-Platonists  and  its  disciples,  Plotinus  and 
Porphyry. 

About  five  or  six  centuries  before  Christ, 
philosophical  speculation  was  devoted  to 
knowing  the  order  of  the  world,  independent 
in  its  application  to  the  common  utilities,  and 
to  an  investigation  of  the  ultimate  basis  and 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN   STOICISM 

essential  nature  of  the  external  world.  The 
Greeks  faced  the  problems  of  life  and  science 
and  art  in  a  direct  manner  and  formulated 
them  with  great  simplicity,  and  the  succes- 
sive phases  of  their  philosophic  speculation 
constitutes  a  most  curious  and  interesting 
chapter  in  history.  The  schools  grappled  with 
the  most  difficult  problems,  and  the  examples 
of  intellectual  acuteness  have  been  rarely 
equalled,  never  excelled. 

The  attempt  of  the  earlier  philosophers 
to  generalize  the  universe,  and  to  resolve 
all  nature  into  some  great  unity,  or  common 
substance  or  principle,  or,  more  accurately,  to 
discover  which  element  of  nature  is  the  funda- 
mental element,  gave  rise  to  a  great  many 
theories.  But  the  basis  upon  which  they 
rested  was  in  its  nature  unsubstantial,  for  it 
included  errors  due  to  imperfect  and  erro- 
neous observations.  Aristotle  says,  that  "of 
those  who  first  philosophized,  the  majority  as- 
sumed only  material  principles  or  elements." 
"The  Greeks,"  says  Professor  Butcher,1  "be- 
fore any  other  people  of  antiquity,  possessed 

1  Some  Aspects  of  Greek  Genius. 


22 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY 

the  love  of  knowledge  for  its  own  sake.  To 
see  things  as  they  really  are,  to  discern  their 
meanings  and  adjust  their  relations,  was  with 
them  an  instinct  and  a  passion.  Their  methods 
in  science  and  philosophy  might  be  very 
faulty,  and  their  conclusions  often  absurd, 
but  they  had  that  fearlessness  of  intellect 
which  is  the  first  condition  of  seeing  truly. 
Poets  and  philosophers  alike  looked  with  un- 
flinching eye  on  all  that  met  them,  on  man 
and  the  world,  on  life  and  death.  They  inter- 
rogated Nature,  and  sought  to  wrest  her  se- 
crets from  her,  without  misgiving  and  with- 
out afterthought.  They  took  no  count  of  the 
consequences.  (  Let  us  follow  the  argument 
whithersoever  it  leads,'  may  be  taken  not  only 
as  the  motto  of  the  Platonic  philosophy,  but 
as  expressing  one  side  of  the  Greek  genius." 
But  with  all  the  crudities  and  puerilities  of 
thought,  there  were  intellectual  giants  in  those 
days.  The  Ionic  philosophers  boldly  met  and 
solved  the  most  abstruse  questions  of  ontol- 
ogy. The  Pythagoreans  penetrated  into  the 
mysteries  of  mathematical  science.  The  Ele- 
atics  formulated  much  valuable  truth  as  to  the 

23 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

nature  and  attributes  of  Deity.  The  Atomists 
conducted  their  investigations  in  the  most 
approved  methods  of  induction,  and  reached 
results  which  the  disciples  of  Lord  Bacon 
have  done  little  more  than  verify.  The  Greek 
mind  saw  the  world  as  a  cosmos,  produced, 
therefore,  and  ruled  by  a  reasoning  principle, 
or  logos.  From  Heraclitus  to  the  Stoics,  from 
the  Stoics  to  Philo  Judseus,  the  term  passed; 
changed,  modified,  expanded  in  turns,  but 
always  there. 

Thales  considered  water  the  primordial  and 
fundamental  principle.  Anaximander  adopted 
as  the  foundation  of  the  universe  something 
called  by  him  the  infinite  or  undeterminate, 
out  of  which  the  various  substances,  air,  fire, 
water,  etc.,  were  generated,  and  to  which  they 
were  again  resolved.  Anaximenes  chose  air  as 
the  element  which  best  represented  or  sym- 
bolized the  underlying  principle  of  nature. 

Philosophy  was  first  brought  into  connec- 
tion with  practical  life  by  Pythagoras  (582- 
504).  Regarding  the  world  as  a  perfect  har- 
mony, dependent  on  number,  he  aimed  at 
inducing  mankind  likewise  to  lead  a  harmoni- 

24 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY 

ous  life.  Pythagoras  gave  number  as  the  es- 
sence and  foundation  of  all  existing  things ; 
the  different  numbers  being  representative  of 
different  natural  properties  and  powers ;  thus 
Jive  stood  for  color,  six  for  life,  etc.  "  All 
things,"  said  the  Pythagoreans,  "  as  known, 
have  number ;  and  this  number  has  two  na- 
tures, the  odd  and  the  even  ;  the  known  thing 
is  the  odd-even  or  union  of  the  two/'  This 
principle  of  union  was  God,  ever  living,  ever 
one,  eternal,  immovable,  self-identical.  The 
whole  tendency  of  Pythagoreanism  was  in  a 
practical  respect  ascetic,  and  directed  to  a 
strict  culture  of  the  character. 

Xenophanes  attacked  the  popular  polythe- 
ism, and  he  insisted  that  God  must  be  one, 
eternal,  incorporeal,  without  beginning  or 
ending.  At  the  same  time  he  recognized  a 
world  of  phenomena,  or,  as  he  expressed  it, 
"  a  world  of  guesswork  or  opinion." 

Parmenides  drew  a  deep  division  between 
the  world  of  reason  and  the  world  of  sensa- 
tion, between  probative  argument  and  the 
guesswork  of  sense-impressions. 

Heraclitus  maintained  a  theory  of  incessant 

25 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

change,  the  negation  of  all  substance  and  sta- 
bility, a  power  of  perpetual  destruction  and 
renovation.  As  in  the  living  body,  wherein 
while  there  is  life  there  is  no  stability  or  fixed- 
ness ;  stability  and  fixedness  are  the  attributes 
of  the  unreal  image  of  life,  not  of  life  itself. 
Heraclitus  considered  fire  as  an  image,  or  sym- 
bol, of  the  underlying  reality  of  existence. 
Fire  was  a  symbol,  suggested  by  the  special 
characteristics  of  fire  in  nature,  its  subtlety, 
its  mobility,  its  power  of  penetrating  all  things 
and  devouring  all  things,  its  powers  for  benefi- 
cence in  the  warmth  of  living  bodies,  and  the 
life-giving  power  of  the  sun.  From  fire  all 
things  originate,  and  return  to  it  again  by  a 
never-resting  process  of  development.  All 
things,  therefore,  are  in  a  perpetual  flux. 

Anaxagoras  treated  the  world  as  made  up 
of  elements,  but  indefinite  in  number.  By  the 
attraction  of  each  for  its  own  kind,  the  primi- 
tive chaos  was  separated,  but  excepting  intelli- 
gence, no  element  ever  was  perfectly  pure,  the 
characteristic  of  each  substance  being  deter- 
mined by  the  predominance  of  the  proper 
element.  "All  things  were  as  one;  then  com- 

26 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY 

eth  intelligence,  and  by  division  brought  all 
things  into  order."  Intelligence  he  conceived 
as  something  apart,  giving  doubtless  the  first 
impulse  to  the  movement  of  things,  but  leav- 
ing them  for  the  rest  to  their  own  inherent 
tendencies. 

Empedocles  took  his  stand  upon  the  four 
elements,  out  of  which  all  things  were  consti- 
tuted by  the  action  of  the  opposing  principles 
of  love,  as  enmity  or  discord  —  a  poetical 
representation  of  attraction  and  repulsion. 
His  speculation  about  things,  like  those  of 
Parmenides  before  him  and  of  Lucretius  after 
him,  are  set  down  in  verse.  Empedocles  was 
the  first  philosopher  who  supplanted  guesses 
about  the  world  by  inquiry  into  the  world 
itself. 

The  celebrated  atomic  theory  originated 
with  Leucippus  and  with  his  pupil  Democri- 
tus.  The  doctrine  of  the  latter  was  antithet- 
ical to  that  of  Empedocles,  who  worked  out 
on  abstract  lines  a  theory  of  one  indivisible, 
eternal,  immovable  Being.  Democritus,  on 
the  contrary,  declared  for  two  co-equal  ele- 
ments, Being  and  Nonentity.  The  latter,  he 

27 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

maintained,  was  as  real  as  the  former.  All  the 
visible  structure  of  the  universe  had  its  origin 
in  the  movements  of  the  atoms  that  consti- 
tuted it,  and  conditioned  its  infinite  changes. 

With  Anaxagoras,  who  combined  together 
the  principles  of  all  his  predecessors,  we  may 
say  that  the  realistic  period  of  the  old  Grecian 
philosophy  closed.  It  was  the  ending  of  an  old 
and  the  beginning  point  of  a  new  course  of 
development.  The  object  of  the  philosophers 
had  been  to  demonstrate  the  absolute  unity 
of  the  external  world,  and  to  establish  that  all 
variety  was,  in  truth,  only  the  apparent  diver- 
sity under  which  it  is  given  to  the  perishable 
senses  to  contemplate  it.  Their  conceptions 
of  human  knowledge,  arising  out  of  their 
theories  as  to  the  constitution  of  things,  had 
been  no  less  various,  but  their  thoughts  still 
exercise  a  potent,  though  unnoticed,  sway  in 
almost  every  department  of  philosophy,  lit- 
erature, oratory,  and  science,  in  all  civilized 
countries  of  the  old  world  and  the  new. 

It  now  remained  for  the  Sophists,  whose 
teachings  struck  its  roots  into  the  whole  mor- 
al, political,  and  religious  character  of  the 

28 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY 

Athenian  life  of  that  time.  They  opened  up 
discussions  on  virtue,  on  justice,  on  the  laws, 
and  on  happiness.  Plato  remarks  in  his  Re- 
public that  the  doctrines  of  the  Sophists  only 
expressed  the  very  principles  which  guided 
the  course  of  the  great  mass  of  men  of  that 
time  in  their  civil  and  social  relations.  Their 
philosophy  came  in  contact  with  the  univer- 
sal consciousness  of  the  educated  class  of  that 
period. 

The  theoretical  principle  of  the  Sophistic 
philosophy  was  that  the  individual  Ego  can 
arbitrarily  determine  what  is  true,  right  and 
good.  The  Sophists  taught,  that  all  thought 
rests  solely  on  the  apprehensions  of  the  senses 
and  on  subjective  impression,  and  that  there- 
fore we  have  no  other  standard  of  action  than 
utility  for  the  individual.  Philosophy  which 
had  at  first  been  a  protest  against  the  existing 
state  of  things,  now  became  the  conviction  of 
duty  ;  its  dominant  idea  being  submission  to 
that  law  which  every  man  can  discover  by 
a  persevering  examination  of  himself.  The 
Greek  religion  at  first  announced  no  moral 
law,  and  neither  by  precept  nor  example  un- 

29 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

dertook  to  guide  men's  consciences.  It  was 
not  until  Grecian  wisdom  had  outgrown  the 
myths  of  paganism,  that  philosophy  appeared 
in  a  pure  state,  disengaged  from  religious  su- 
perstition. All  the  Grecian  schools,  however, 
agreed  in  one  thing,  namely,  to  inculcate  out- 
ward respect  for  established  forms  of  religion 
as  an  instrument  of  government.  So  the  Stoic, 
Epicurean,  Peripatetic,  and  others  consented 
to  practise  on  public  occasions  the  rites  which 
they  not  less  openly  derided  in  their  speaking 
and  writing.  The  philosophers,  as  a  matter  of 
expediency  and  prudence,  did  not  attempt  to 
disturb  the  faith  of  the  multitude,  for  they 
considered  that  a  traditional  mythology  was 
necessary  to  maintain  order  in  the  state.  They 
feared  that  a  rabble  without  superstition  would 
be  ungovernable.  The  faith  of  the  multitude 
in  the  old  gods  remained  unshaken,  for  it  had 
long  attributed  the  deliverance  from  the  perils 
of  various  wars  to  their  mighty  and  merciful 
influence.  Philosophy,  however,  gradually 
undermined  the  old  religion  and  substituted 
for  it  more  noble  ideas,  a  pure  monotheism, 
and  profound  ethics,  and  the  current  of  moral 

3° 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY 

philosophy  reached  the  depths  of  many  souls 
and  left  there  a  fruitful  deposit,  a  grand  prin- 
ciple of  honor  and  saving  power.  Many  in- 
quiring minds  turned  to  philosophy  and  to 
teachers  who  professed  to  have  explored  the 
mysteries  of  life,  and  to  have  found  a  safe 
rule  for  human  action. 

In  Thales,  Heraclitus,  Pythagoras,  Par- 
menides,  Empedocles,  and  others,  we  find 
an  apostolic  succession  of  great  men,  great 
thinkers,  and  great  poets  —  men  of  noble  life 
and  lofty  thoughts,  true  prophets  and  re- 
vealers.  The  progress  of  philosophy  from 
Thales  to  Plato  was  the  noblest  triumph 
which  the  human  mind,  under  pagan  influ- 
ence, ever  achieved.  It  originated  and  car- 
ried out  the  boldest  speculations  respecting 
the  nature  of  the  soul  and  its  future  existence, 
and  elevated  a  code  of  morals  which  has  in- 
fluenced mankind  for  two  thousand  years. 

Thales,  the  first  Grecian  philosopher  (b. 
494  B.C.)  said,  "  Of  all  things,  the  oldest  is 
God;  the  most  beautiful  is  the  world;  the 
simplest  is  thought;  the  wisest  is  time." 
"Death  does  not  differ  at  all  from  life."  He 

31 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

also  taught  that  a  divine  power  was  in  all 
things.  Pythagoras  (b.  584  B.C.)  taught  that 
God  was  one ;  yet  not  outside  of  the  world, 
but  in  it,  wholly  in  every  part,  overseeing  the 
beginnings  of  all  things  and  their  combina- 
tions. God  is  the  soul  of  the  world,  and  the 
world  itself  is  God  in  process.  Through  the 
interchange  and  intergrowth  of  all  the  contra- 
rieties of  lower  existence,  God  realizes  him- 
self; the  universe  in  its  evolution  is  the  self- 
picturing  of  God. 

Xenophanes  (b.  600  B.C.),  the  head  of  the 
Eleatics,  declared  God  to  be  the  one  and  all, 
external,  almighty,  and  perfect  being,  being 
all  sight,  feeling,  and  perception,  without  be- 
ginning or  ending.  He  is  both  finite  and  in- 
finite. 

Empedocles  (460  B.C.)  declared  God  to  be 
the  Absolute  Being,  sufficient  for  himself,  and 
that  we  can  recognize  God  by  the  divine  ele- 
ment in  ourselves. 

Diogenes  of  Apollonia  (500  B.C.)  taught 
that  there  was  a  primum  mobile,  or  first  source 
of  being  in  action,  the  Soul  of  the  Universe. 
He  regarded  the  universe  as  issuing  from  an 

32 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY 

intelligent  principle,  by  which  it  was  at  once 
vivified  and  ordered,  a  rational  as  well  as  sen- 
sitive soul. 

Then  came  the  sceptical  movement  which 
ended  when  Socrates  first  taught  the  doctrine 
of  Divine  Providence,  declaring  that  we  can 
only  know  God  in  his  works.   Socrates  insti- 
tuted a  severe  logical  analysis  of  the  meaning 
of  ethical  terms,  asking,  "What  is  piety?' 
"What    is    impiety?'     "What    is    noble?' 
"What  is  base?"  "What  is  just?"  "What  is 
temperance?"  "What  is  madness?"  "What 
is  a  state?"  "What  constitutes  the  character 
of  a   citizen?"  "What   is  rule  over  man?' 
"What  makes  one  able  to  rule?' 


33 


Ill 

GREEK  PHILOSOPHY  —  SOCRATES 

THE  speculations  of  philosophers  for  a  cen- 
tury or  more  had  arrived  at  the  hopeless  con- 
clusion that  there  was  no  absolute  standard 
of  right  and  wrong,  and  that  all  that  men  can 
know  is  dependent  upon  sensation  and  per- 
ception through  the  senses.  But  it  was  left 
for  Socrates  to  teach  the  real  objective  exist- 
ence of  truth  and  morality.  vtike  the  Sophists, 
he  rejected  entirely  the  physical  speculations 
in  which  his  predecessors  had  indulged,  and 
made  the  subjective  thoughts  and  opinions  of 
men  his  starting-point.  He  endeavored  to  ex- 
tract from  the  common  intelligence  of  man- 
kind an  objective  rule  of  practical  life.  Socrates 
aimed  to  withdraw  the  mind  from  the  con- 
templation of  nature,  and  to  turn  its  regard 
on  its  own  phenomena.  He  believed  every 
man  has  within  himself  the  germs  of  knowl- 
edge, and  the  only  way  by  which  men  can 

34 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY  —  SOCRATES 

conquer  truth  is  to  struggle  valorously  with 
himself  for  its  possession.  Hegel  says  that 
"  Socrates  is  celebrated  as  a  teacher  of  moral- 
ity, but  we  should  rather  call  him  the  inventor 
of  morality.  The  Greeks  had  a  morality  of  cus- 
tom ;  but  Socrates  undertook  to  teach  them 
what  moral  virtues  and  duties  were.  The 
moral  man  is  not  merely  he  who  wills  and 
does  that  which  is  right  —  not  the  merely 
innocent  man  —  but  he  who  has  the  conscious- 
ness of  what  he  is  doing.  Socrates,  in  assign- 
ing to  insight,  to  conviction,  the  determination 
of  men's  actions,  posited  the  individual  as 
capable  of  a  final  moral  decision,  in  contra- 
position to  country  and  customary  morality, 
and  thus  manifested  a  revolutionary  aspect 
towards  the  Athenian  state.  It  was  for  giving 
utterance  to  that  principle  that  Socrates  was 
condemned  to  death/' 

Socrates  was  not  the  founder  of  any  school, 
although  all  the  subsequent  celebrated  schools 
of  Greece  were  developments  of  his  principles. 
He  was  the  first  philosopher  who  endeavored 
to  provide  religion  with  a  stable  foundation, 
working  at  the  same  problem  which  occupied 

35 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

the  prophets  of  Israel,  and  building  up  the 
rule  of  one  God. 

Socrates  taught  that  the  Supreme  Being  is 
the  immaterial  infinite  governor  of  all,  that 
the  world  bears  the  stamp  of  his  intelligence, 
and  attests  it  by  irrefragable  evidence,  and 
that  he  is  the  author  and  vindicator  of  all 
moral  laws.  But  while  Socrates  taught  the 
unity  of  God,  the  soul's  immortality,  and  the 
moral  responsibility  of  man,  yet  his  philoso- 
phy is  of  purely  an  ethical  character,  and  he 
was  the  first  to  teach  ethics  systematically, 
and  from  the  immutable  principles  of  moral 
obligation.  Cicero  said  that  Socrates  brought 
philosophy  down  from  heaven  to  earth,  that 
is  to  say,  wrested  it  from  a  purely  objective 
naturism,  and  established  it  on  the  domain  of 
psychological  facts,  thus  placing  it  on  its  true 
basis. 

Socrates  could  not  conceive  how  a  man 
should  know  the  good  and  yet  not  do  it ;  it 
was  to  him  a  logical  contradiction  that  the 
man  who  sought  his  own  well-being  should 
at  the  same  time  knowingly  despise  it.  There- 
fore, with  him  the  good  action  followed  as 

36 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY— SOCRATES 

necessarily  from  the  knowledge  of  the  good 
as  the  logical  conclusion  from  its  premise. 
The  practice  of  virtue  he  inculcated  as  indis- 
pensable to  happiness  and  true  religion,  and 
his  philosophy  is  exclusively  an  inquiry  into 
the  nature  of  virtue.  Self-knowledge  appeared 
to  him  the  only  object  worthy  of  man,  as  the 
starting-point  of  all  philosophy.  Knowledge 
of  every  other  kind,  he  pronounced  so  insig- 
nificant and  worthless,  that  he  was  wont  to 
boast  of  his  ignorance,  and  to  declare  that  he 
excelled  other  men  in  wisdom  only  in  this, 
that  he  was  conscious  of  his  own  ignorance. 

Socrates  taught  that  the  human  soul  is 
allied  to  the  divine  essence,  not  by  a  partici- 
pation of  essence,  but  by  a  similarity  of  na- 
ture ;  that  if  the  soul  of  man  is  a  portion  of 
the  Deity,  virtue,  and  therefore  happiness, 
must  be  sought  by  endeavoring  to  mould 
ourselves  after  the  divine  image.  The  Phaedo 
of  Socrates  stands  among  the  masterpieces  of 
literature.  But  the  soul  which  Socrates  in  the 
Phaedo  called  immortal  is  not  the  soul  or 
spirit  of  the  Christian  doctrine.  It  is  more  the 
vital  principle,  the  seat  of  desire,  affection, 

37 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

and   reason,   than   the   spiritual    principle   in 
man. 

According  to  the  philosophy  of  Socrates, 
man  excels  all  other  animals  in  the  faculty  of 
reason,  and  that  the  existence  of  good  men 
will  be  continued  after  death,  in  a  state  in 
which  they  will  receive  the  reward  of  their 
virtue.  The  first  principles  of  virtuous  con- 
duct are,  according  to  Socrates,  the  laws  of 
God,  because  no  man  can  depart  from  them 
with  impunity.  He  taught  that  true  felicity  is 
not  to  be  derived  from  external  possessions, 
but  from  wisdom,  which  consists  in  the  knowl- 
edge and  practice  of  virtue ;  that  the  cultivation 
of  virtuous  manners  is  necessarily  attended 
with  pleasure,  as  well  as  profit ;  that  the  hon- 
est man  alone  is  happy  ;  and  that  it  is  absurd 
to  attempt  to  separate  things  which  are  in 
nature  so  closely  united  as  virtue  and  inter- 
est. 

Socrates  was  the  first  to  maintain  that  reason 
is  above  nature,  and  that  the  natural  is  merely 
subservient  to  intellectual  ends.  He  believed 
in  the  existence  of  one  supreme  Divinity,  the 
Creator  and  Disposer  of  the  universe,  the 

38 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY  —  SOCRATES 

Maker  and  Father  of  mankind,  the  Ruler 
and  Governor  among  the  nations,  invisible, 
all-powerful,  omniscient,  and  omnipotent,  per- 
fectly wise  and  just  and  good.  His  one  only 
and  constant  prayer  was,  that  God  would 
guide  him,  and  give  him,  not  riches,  pleasure, 
honor,  power,  which  were  as  likely  to  prove  a 
bane  as  a  blessing,  but  what  was  best  for  him  ; 
since  God  only  knew  what  was  for  his  true 
and  highest  good. 

In  his  dialogues  with  Aristodemus  and  with 
Enthydemus,  he  says  :  "  Such  is  the  nature 
of  the  Divinity  :  that  he  sees  all  things,  hears 
all  things,  is  everywhere  present,  and  con- 
stantly superintends  all  events.  He  who  dis- 
poses and  directs  the  universe,  who  is  the 
source  of  all  that  is  fair  and  good,  who,  amid 
the  successive  changes,  preserves  the  course 
of  nature  unimpaired,  and  to  whose  laws  all 
beings  are  subject,  this  supreme  Deity,  though 
himself  invisible,  is  manifestly  seen  in  his 
magnificent  operations.  Learn,  then,  from  the 
things  which  are  produced,  to  infer  the  exist- 
ence of  an  invisible  power,  and  to  reverence 
the  Divinity." 

39 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

Socrates  did  not  deny  the  inferior  deities, 
but  regarded  them  only  as  we  regard  angels 
and  archangels,  saints  and  prophets,  as  finite 
beings,  above  man,  but  infinitely  below  the 
Supreme  Being. 

Socrates  taught  men  to  think  aright,  to  give 
right  views  of  duty,  and  to  expand  into  life 
and  vigor  man's  moral,  as  well  as  his  intel- 
lectual nature.  He  constantly  enforced  the 
virtues  of  temperance,  sobriety  and  justice. 
He  taught  the  love  of  knowledge,  the  love 
of  goodness,  the  worth  of  friendship,  courage, 
and  wisdom.  To  him  goodness  is  something 
sacred  in  itself,  and  he  had  no  respect  for 
theories  that  had  not  for  their  object  and  end 
the  attainment  of  some  practical  good.  It  was 
the  beauty  and  glory  of  Socrates'  character, 
that  his  doctrine  of  providence  and  prayer 
and  a  future  state  was  the  controlling  princi- 
ple of  his  life.  He  was  an  acute  inquirer  into 
the  existing  philosophies  of  the  day,  a  pro- 
found and  original  thinker,  but  at  the  same 
time  endowed  with  a  heart  of  childlike  piety, 
and  a  lofty  moral  character,  which  wrought 
his  faith,  his  doctrine,  and  his  life  into  com- 

40 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY  —  SOCRATES 

plete  accord,  and  he  was  the  first  who  caused 
the  truths  of  philosophy  to  exercise  a  practical 
influence  upon  the  masses  of  mankind. 

The  fathers  of  the  Christian  church  vie 
with  heathen  moralists,  in  deservedly  extoll- 
ing the  wisdom  and  self-denying  virtue  of 
Socrates.  Says  a  writer,  "  He  was  raised  up 
to  be  a  prophet  to  the  whole  civilized  world, 
and  by  his  lofty  wisdom  he  was  a  Greek  John 
the  Baptist,  preparing  the  way  for  a  higher 
teacher  than  himself."  Says  Rosseau,1  "  Soc- 
rates himself  would  have  aspired  to  no  higher 
honor  than  that  of  being  a  forerunner  of 
Christ  among  the  Greeks.  That  honor  justly 
belongs  to  him  ;  and  his  propaedeutic  influence 
can  easily  be  traced,  like  that  of  Plato,  and 
largely  through  him  and  his  followers,  in  the 
history  and  philosophy  of  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  before  and  after  Christ,  while  the 
power  of  his  teaching  and  his  life  is  still  felt 
in  all  the  literature,  the  philosophy,  and  the 
religion  of  all  Christian  nations." 

Says  Grote,2  "  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 

1  Smile,  bk.  IV. 

2  History  of  Greece. 

41 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

the  individual  influence  of  Socrates  perma- 
nently enlarged  the  horizon,  improved  the 
method,  and  multiplied  the  ascendant  minds 
of  the  Grecian  speculative  world,  to  a  manner 
never  since  paralleled.  Subsequent  philoso- 
phers may  have  had  a  more  elaborate  doctrine, 
and  a  larger  number  of  disciples  who  imbibed 
their  ideas  ;  but  none  of  them  applied  the  same 
stimulating  method  with  the  same  efficacy  ; 
none  of  them  struck  out  of  other  minds  that 
fire  which  sets  light  to  original  thought ;  none 
of  them  either  produced  in  others  the  pains 
of  intellectual  pregnancy,  or  extracted  from 
others  the  fresh  and  unborrowed  offspring  of 
a  really  parturient  mind." 

After  the  death  of  Socrates  a  number  of 
schools  of  philosophy  came  into  being,  which 
incorporated  some  of  the  fundamental  doc- 
trines of  Socrates  or  contained  some  systems 
which  existed  anterior  to  the  age  of  Socrates, 
but  which  were  modified  by  the  influence  of 
the  Socratic  philosophy,  and  which  often 
changed,  exaggerated,  or  perverted  the  tenets 
of  their  common  master.  Of  such  were  the 
Cynic  school  of  Antisthenes  and  Diogenes, 

42 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY  —  SOCRATES 

» 

the  Cyrenaic  school  of  Aristippus,  the  Pyrr- 
honic  school  of  Pyrrho,  the  Megaric  or  Eris- 
tic school  of  Euclid,  and  Diodorus  Chronos, 
the  Academic  school  of  Plato,  the  Epicurean 
school  of  Epicurus,  and  the  Peripatetic  school 
of  Aristotle. 

The  fundamental  thought  of  the  followers 
of  Socrates  was  that  man  should  have  one  uni- 
versal and  essentially  true  aim,  but  the  nature 
of  this  aim  varied  with  the  teaching  of  the 
various  disciples.  The  majority,  however,  of 
philosophical  schools  deviated  from  the  spirit 
of  Socrates,  who  had  taught  men  to  have  a 
high  regard  for  their  duties  and  to  act  after 
mature  consideration.  The  schools  of  philos- 
ophy learned  either  the  idealism  of  Plato  or 
the  analytic  method  of  Aristotle,  while  the 
later  system  of  ethics  partakes  largely  of  the 
Stoic  self-sacrifice,  and  the  Epicurean  doc- 
trine of  the  highest  pleasure  as  the  chiefest 
good.  But  when  Zeno  had  elaborated  his 
ethical  system,  something  was  offered  to  the 
people  that  their  religion  was  no  longer  able 
to  bestow.  We  shall  see  how  much  Zeno  and 
the  later  teachers  of  Stoicism  were  indebted 

43 


GREEK  AND  ROJV1AN  STOICISM 

to  Socrates  for  many  of  their  best  and  noblest 
thoughts. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  follow  the  course 
of  Greek  philosophy  from  Socrates  to  Zeno. 
We  have  only  briefly  referred  to  the  philoso- 
phers before  Socrates,  and  to  Socrates,  in  order 
that  the  reader  may  see  to  what  extent  Zeno 
may  have  been  influenced  by  his  predeces- 
sors. As  we  have  seen,  the  influence  of  Soc- 
rates was  undoubtedly  very  great.  He  gave 
the  impulse  to  Plato,  the  great  master,  the 
Shakespeare  of  Greek  philosophy,  as  he  has 
been  called.  The  moral  philosophy  of  Plato 
was  adopted  from  the  teachings  of  Socrates 
without  notable  modification  or  alteration. 
Plato,  in  his  turn,  acted  upon  Aristotle,  and 
the  systems  of  philosophy  developed  by  Soc- 
rates, Plato  and  Aristotle,  have  persistently 
dominated  human  belief  to  the  present  day. 
Outside  the  sacred  literature  of  the  world, 
Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle  were  the  main 
factors  of  civilization.  They  fulfilled  a  truly 
sublime  mission  in  their  day  and  nation,  for 
in  the  fourth  century,  B.C.,  these  philosophers 
and  their  disciples  made  an  end  to  the  more 

44 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY  —  SOCRATES 

ancient  materialism,  and  built  up  those  sys- 
tems of  philosophy,  including  the  natural 
sciences,  which  have  exercised  so  vast  an  in- 
fluence upon  the  progress  of  man,  and  still  do 
in  very  many  instances.  They  were  the  great 
prophets  of  the  human  conscience  in  the  pa- 
gan world.  Says  Pressense,  "  The  philosophy 
of  a  people  is  the  highest  and  truest  expression 
of  its  genius.  Its  thinkers  evolve  from  their 
inner  consciousness,  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  the  nation's  life,  apart  from  all  that 
is  merely  accessory." 

We  shall  see  that  the  philosophy  of  Greece 
did  inestimable  service  in  preparing  the  way 
for  Christianity,  by  purifying  the  idea  of  the 
Deity,  and  we  shall  find  in  their  religious 
ideas  and  their  psychology  many  points  of 
union  with  Christianity.  Zeller  has  shown  * 
that  the  decadence  of  the  national  Greek  life 
had  a  marked  influence  upon  philosophic 
thought.  At  the  time  that  the  philosophy  of 
Greece  reached  its  highest  point  in  Plato  and 
Aristotle,  Greece  was  in  all  other  respects  in 
a  hopeless  state  of  decline.  The  old  morality 

1  Stoics,  Epicureans,  and  Sceptics. 

45 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

and  propriety  of  conduct  had  disappeared, 
and  the  philosophy  of  the  day  offered  no 
substitute  for  the  loss  of  the  old  belief  in  the 
gods.  The  age  required  moral  bracing  and 
strengthening.  As  this  was  not  to  be  found  in 
the  national  religion,  philosophy  was  looked  to 
to  supply  the  deficiency,  and  Epicureanism 
and  Stoicism,  by  the  essentially  practical  char- 
acter of  their  teaching,  and  by  their  concentra- 
tion of  thought  on  ethical  problems  and  on  the 
moral  life  of  the  individual,  supplied  the  needs 
of  the  educated  people  by  inculcating  peace  of 
mind  by  avoiding  all  those  disturbances  which 
sometimes  arise  from  external  influence,  at 
other  times  from  internal  emotions.  As  a 
writer  has  said,  the  Stoics  had  replaced  the 
incomprehensible  God  of  Plato,  and  the  soli- 
tary God  of  Aristotle,  by  a  living  God  who 
penetrates  and  fills  the  universe  with  his  own 
life  —  the  God  which  underlies  the  Vedas  as 
it  underlies  Hellenism,  and  the  Semitic  peo- 
ples. Although  under  conditions  which  they 
did  not  understand,  Stoic  and  even  Epicu- 
rean were  preparing  the  way  for  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  Greek  civilization  was  an 

46 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY  — SOCRATES 

essential  condition  of  the  progress  of  the 
Gospel. 

Professor  Cocker l  sums  up  the  work  of 
preparation  done  by  Greek  philosophy,  as 
seen  :  — 

"i.  In  the  release  of  the  popular  mind 
from  polytheistic  notions,  and  the  purifying 
and  spiritualizing  of  the  theistic  idea. 

"  2.  In  the  development  of  the  theistic 
argument  in  a  logical  form. 

"3.  In  the  awakening  and  enthronement 
of  conscience  as  a  law  of  duty,  and  in  the  ele- 
vation and  purification  of  the  moral  idea. 

"4.  In  the  fact  that,  by  an  experiment  con- 
ducted on  the  largest  scale,  it  demonstrated 
the  insufficiency  of  reason  to  elaborate  a  per- 
fect ideal  of  moral  excellence,  and  develop  the 
moral  forces  necessary  to  secure  its  realiza- 
tion. 

"5.  It  awakened  and  deepened  the  con- 
sciousness of  guilt  and  the  desire  for  redemp- 

,  •       » 
tion. 

1  Christianity  and  Greek  Philosophy. 


47 


IV 
THE   FOUNDERS   OF   STOICISM 

THE  aim  of  Stoicism  was  to  popularize 
the  doctrines  and  the  teachings  of  philoso- 
phers, which  had  been  for  some  time  the 
property  of  the  learned  class,  also  to  provide 
the  individual  in  a  period  of  great  moral  de- 
pravity, with  a  fixed  moral  basis  for  practical 
life.  This  school  was  founded  at  Athens  about 
310  B.C.,  by  Zeno  of  Citium,  and  brought 
to  fuller  systematic  form  by  his  successors  as 
heads  of  the  school,  Cleanthes  of  Assos,  and 
especially  Chrysippus  of  Soli,  who  died  about 
206  B.C. 

Zeno  was  born  at  Citium,  in  the  island  of 
Cyprus,  a  Greek  city  having  a  large  Phoeni- 
cian admixture.1  Proving  a  studious  boy,  his 
father,  who  was  a  merchant,  early  devoted  him 

1  It  is  noticeable  that  not  only  Zeno,  but  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  successive  leaders  of  the  Stoic  school,  came 
from  this  and  other  places  having  Semitic  elements  in  them. 


THE  FOUNDERS  OF  STOICISM 

to  the  study  of  philosophy.  While  on  a  visit 
to  Athens,  the  elder  Zeno  purchased  several 
of  the  writings  of  the  most  eminent  philoso- 
phers, and  these  the  young  Zeno  read  with 
great  avidity.  So  interested  did  he  become 
in  his  philosophical  studies,  he  determined  to 
visit  Athens  where  he  could  study  the  philo- 
sophical systems  at  their  fountain  head,  which 
he  did  in  his  thirtieth  year.  Happening  ac- 
cidentally to  meet  in  a  bookstore,  Crates,  the 
Cynic  philosopher,  he  formed  his  acquaint- 
ance and,  attending  some  of  his  lectures,  he 
was  so  well  pleased  that  he  became  one  of  his 
disciples.  But  while  'he  admired  the  general 
principles  and  spirit  of  the  Cynic  school,  he 
could  not  reconcile  himself  to  their  peculiar 
manners,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  be- 
came dissatisfied  with  the  coarse,  ostentatious 
disregard  for  established  usages,  and  the  in- 
difference to  speculative  inquiry  which  char- 
acterized the  Cynic  sect. 

The  school  of  Cynics  was  founded  by 
Antisthenes,  an  Athenian  by  birth,  about 
380  B.C.  He  was  a  pupil  of  Socrates,  and, 
like  him,  he  taught  that  a  speculative  philos- 

49 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

ophy  was  unprofitable,  and  should  be  sup- 
planted by  the  practical  ethical  training  whose 
end  is  a  moral  and  tranquil  life.  In  this  re- 
spect the  Cynic  school  was  like  the  Stoic, 
but  differed  in  defining  virtue  to  be  extreme 
simplicity  in  living.  In  fact,  the  sole  end  of 
the  Cynic  philosophy  seemed  to  be  to  subdue 
the  passions,  and  produce  simplicity  of  man- 
ners. But  the  rigorous  discipline  finally  de- 
generated into  the  most  absurd  severity.  The 
followers  of  Antisthenes  wore  the  most  filthy 
clothing,  ate  raw  meat,  and  treated  all  who  ap- 
proached them  with  great  rudeness.  Dioge- 
nes, of  Sinope,  became  one  of  the  most  famous 
of  the  Cynics,  and  his  striking  figure  and  bold 
epigrams  attracted  great  attention. 

The  doctrine  of  Antisthenes  was  mainly 
confined  to  morals  ;  but  even  in  this  portion 
of  philosophy  it  is  exceedingly  meager  and 
deficient,  scarcely  furnishing  anything  beyond 
a  general  defence  of  the  olden  simplicity  and 
moral  energy,  against  the  luxurious  indul- 
gence and  effeminacy  of  later  times.  Indeed, 
all  speculation  seemed  to  him  quite  idle  or 
fantastic  which  did  not  bear  directly  upon 


THE  FOUNDERS  OF  STOICISM 

moral  questions.  Like  Socrates  he  regarded 
virtue  as  necessary,  indeed,  alone  sufficient 
for  happiness,  and  could  be  a  branch  of 
knowledge  that  could  be  taught,  and  that 
once  acquired  could  not  be  lost,  its  essence 
consisting  in  freedom  from  wants  by  the 
avoidance  of  evil,  i.e.,  of  pleasure  and  desire. 
Its  acquisition  needs  no  dialectic  argumenta- 
tion, only  Socratic  strength. 

It  was  while  he  was  with  the  Cynics  that 
Zeno  composed  his  Republic,  a  work  which 
afterwards  caused  some  trouble  to  the  school. 
Zeno's  inquisitive  turn  of  mind  led  him  to 
follow  the  teachings  of  other  philosophers, 
notably  that  of  Stilpo,  a  philosopher,  who  was 
a  native  of  Megara,  and  taught  philosophy 
in  his  native  town.  Such  was  Stilpo's  invent- 
ive power  and  dialectic  art,  that  he  inspired 
almost  all  Greece  with  a  devotion  to  the  ethi- 
cal Megarian  philosophy,  dwelling  especially 
upon  the  conception  of  virtue  and  its  consid- 
erations. On  moral  topics  Stilpo  taught  that 
the  highest  felicity  consists  in  a  mind  free 
from  the  dominion  of  passion,  a  doctrine  af- 
terwards incorporated  into  the  Stoic  belief. 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

Plato,  in  his  dialogues,  brings  his  philosophic 
conceptions  into  striking  relation  with  the 
theories  of  the  Megarian  as  well  as  the  Cynic 
schools  of  thought. 

Zeno  afterwards  attended  the  lectures  of 
Xenocrates  and  Diodorus  Chronos,  a  native 
of  Caria,  and  disciple  of  the  Megaric  school. 
By  the  latter  Zeno  was  instructed  in  dialec- 
tics. He  also  became  acquainted  with  the 
doctrines  of  Socrates  and  with  Platonism. 
At  last  Zeno  became  a  disciple  of  Polemon, 
a  disciple  of  Xenocrates,  whom  he  succeeded 
as  director  of  the  Academy.  He  strictly  ad- 
hered in  his  teaching  to  the  doctrines  of 
Plato.  Polemon  was  aware  that  Zeno's  inten- 
tion in  thus  passing  from  one  school  to  an- 
other was  to  collect  materials  for  a  new  system 
of  his  own.  Said  Polemon,  "  I  am  no  stranger 
to  your  Phoenician  arts,  Zeno ;  I  perceive 
that  your  design  is  to  creep  slyly  into  my 
garden  and  steal  away  my  fruit." 

At  last,  after  twenty  years  of  preparation, 
having  made  himself  master  of  the  tenets  of 
the  prevailing  philosophies,  Zeno  determined 
to  become  the  founder  of  a  new  sect,  which 

52 


THE  FOUNDERS  OF  STOICISM 

should  have  for  its  object  the  liberating  of 
himself  and  his  followers  from  the  degeneracy 
of  the  times,  by  means  of  a  philosophy  which, 
by  purity  and  strength  of  moral  will,  would 
procure  independence  from  all  external  things, 
and  procure  inward  peace.  The  place  he  made 
choice  of  for  his  school  was  called  the  Poecile^ 
or  "Painted  Porch,"  a  public  portico,  so  called 
from  the  pictures  of  Polygnotus  and  other 
eminent  masters  with  which  it  was  adorned. 
This  portico,  being  the  most  famous  in 
Athens,  was  called  by  way  of  distinction,  Stoa, 
"  the  Porch."  It  was  from  this  circumstance 
that  the  followers  of  Zeno  were  called  Stoics, 
/.  e.y  "  men  of  the  Porch."  Zeno  used  to  walk 
up  and  down  in  the  beautiful  colonnade,  and 
there  he  delivered  his  discourses,  wishing,  as 
Diogenes  Laertius  observed,  to  make  that 
spot  tranquil ;  for  in  the  time  of  the  Thirty 
Tyrants,  nearly  fourteen  hundred  of  the  citi- 
zens had  died  by  the  executioner's  hand. 

Zeno  began  his  teaching  as  a  Cynic,  to 
which  he  gradually  added  the  tenets  of  other 
systems,  noticeably  those  of  Heraclitus,  Aris- 
totle, Diogenes  of  Apollonia,  and  the  Pytha- 

53 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

goreans.  In  their  theory  of  knowledge,  the 
Cynics  made  use  of  "reason,"  which  was  also 
one  of  their  leading  ethical  conceptions.  In 
this  particular  Zeno  followed  them.  But  he 
enlarged  upon  the  belief  of  the  Cynics,  and 
made  reason,  or  the  logos,  which  had  been  an 
ethical  or  psychological  principle  of  the  Cyn- 
ics, an  extension  throughout  the  natural  world, 
in  which  Heraclitean  influence  is  unmistaka- 
ble, but  he  came  to  formulate  his  distinctive 
theory  of  the  universe  far  in  advance  of  the 
teaching  of  the  Cynics.  As  to  the  moral  doc- 
trine of  the  Cynics,  there. can  be  no  doubt  that 
he  transferred  it  with  but  very  little  change 
into  his  own  school.  In  fact  it  differed  more 
in  words  than  in  reality.  He  retained  the 
spirit  of  their  moral  teaching,  but  from  his 
studies  of  other  philosophies,  he  formed  a 
new  system  of  speculative  philosophy.  Ju- 
venal remarked  that  the  distinction  between 
the  Cynics  and  the  Stoics  lay  only  in  the  coat 
they  wore. 

The  principal  difference,  however,  between 
the  Cynics  and  the  Stoics  was,  that  the  former 
disdained  the  cultivation  of  nature,  the  latter 

54 


THE  FOUNDERS  OF  STOICISM 

affected  to  rise  above  it.  On  the  subject  of 
physics,  Zeno  received  his  doctrine  from 
Pythagoras  and  Heraclitus  through  the  Pla- 
tonic school.  Zeno  combated  Plato's  doctrine 
that  virtue  consists  in  contemplation,  and  of 
Epicurus,  that  it  consisted  in  pleasure.  He 
sought  to  oppose  scepticism,  which  was  cast- 
ing its  funeral  veil  of  doubt  and  uncertainty 
over  everything  pertaining  to  the  soul,  God, 
and  the  future  life.  According  to  Zeno,  to 
practise  virtue  was  the  highest  duty  of  man, 
but  knowledge  was  needed  in  order  to  prac- 
tise virtue.  How,  then,  shall  we  obtain  sure 
and  certain  knowledge  ?  The  only  knowledge 
which  is  sure,  certain,  immediate,  and  real,  is 
the  knowledge  we  have  through  the  senses. 
The  philosophy  of  Zeno  did  not  absolutely 
deny  to  man  the  right  to  speculative  endeavor, 
but  inculcated,  above  everything  else,  a  virtu- 
ous activity.  Man  must  live  to  be  virtuous, 
to  do  brave  deeds,  to  be  a  man  in  the  true 
Latin  sense  of  the  word  vir-tus  —  manliness, 
mankind,  i.e.,  strength,  vigor,  bravery,  cour- 
age, aptness,  capacity,  worth,  excellence,  vir- 
tue, etc. 

55 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

Zeno  was  persuaded  that  if  we  only  knew 
what  is  good  we  should  be  certain  to  practise  it. 
With  him  sense  furnishes  the  data  of  knowl- 
edge, and  reason  combines  them ;  the  soul 
being  mortified  by  external  things,  and  modi- 
fying them  in  return,  he  believed  that  the 
mind  is  at  first,  as  it  were,  a  blank  tablet,  on 
which  sensation  writes  marks,  and  that  the  dis- 
tinctness of  sensuous  impressions  is  the  cri- 
terion of  their  truth.  Zeno,  in  his  teaching, 
avoided  interfering  with  the  national  religion, 
all  of  whose  divinities  were  to  him  manifesta- 
tions of  the  One  Being;  and  in  virtue  of  this 
principle  he  was  able  to  respect  popular  be- 
liefs. He  taught  a  devout  recognition  of  an 
all-powerful  and  perfectly  good  God,  who  di- 
rectly controls  the  universe.  Regarding  every- 
thing in  the  world  as  of  divine  origin,  he  de- 
nied the  existence  of  evil,  which  would  imply 
that  the  Deity  was  defective  in  either  goodness 
or  power.  To  show  how  God  and  the  universe 
were  distinct  and  yet  one,  was  the  problem  of 
Zeno  and  his  disciples.  They  taught  that  God 
was  the  soul  of  the  great  animal  world.  That 
he  is  the  universal  reason  which  rules  over 

56 


THE  FOUNDERS  OF  STOICISM 

all,  and  permeates  all.  That  he  is  that  gracious 
Providence  which  cares  for  the  individual  as 
well  as  for  all.  He  is  infinitely  wise.  His  na- 
ture is  the  basis  of  law,  forbidding  evil  and 
commanding  good. 

While  the  teaching  of  Zeno  was  mainly 
ethical,  it  differed  little  from  the  moral  doc- 
trines of  Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  and  Epi- 
curus ;  but  it  was  accompanied  by  theological 
ideas  which  gave  it  a  peculiar  character,  The 
Athenians  had  so  much  respect  for  Zeno  that 
they  honored  him  with  a  golden  crown,  and 
a  brazen  statue.  King  Antigonus  held  Zeno 
in  great  respect,  and  he  attended  his  lectures 
whenever  he  came  to  Athens.  Apollonius 
quotes  the  following  letter  of  Antigonus  to 
Zeno  :  — 

"  I  think  that  in  good  fortune  and  glory  I 
have  the  advantage  of  you  ;  but  in  reason  and 
education  I  am  inferior  to  you,  and  also  in 
that  perfect  happiness  which  you  have  at- 
tained to.  On  which  account  I  have  thought 
it  good  to  address  you,  and  invite  you  to 
come  to  me,  being  convinced  that  you  will 
not  refuse  what  is  asked  of  you.  Endeavor, 

57 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

therefore,  by  all  means  to  come  to  me,  con- 
sidering this  fact,  that  you  will  not  be  the 
instructor  of  me  alone,  but  of  all  the  Mace- 
donians, and  who  leads  him  in  the  path  of 
virtue,  evidently  marshals  all  his  subjects  on 
the  road  to  happiness.  For  as  the  ruler  is,  so 
it  is  natural  that  his  subjects  for  the  most  part 
shall  be  also." 

Zeno  is  described  by  Diogenes  Laertius,  as 
a  person  of  great  powers  of  endurance  ;  and 
of  very  simple  habits,  living  on  food  which 
required  no  fire  to  dress  it,  and  wearing  a  thin 
cloak,  so  that  it  was  said  of  him  :  — 

u  The  cold  of  winter,  and  the  ceaseless  rain, 
Come  powerless  against  him ;  weak  is  the  dart 
Of  the  fierce  summer  sun,  or  fell  disease, 
To  bend  that  iron  frame.    He  stands  apart, 
In  naught  resembling  the  vast  common  crowd ; 
But,  patient  and  unwearied,  night  and  day, 
Clings  to  his  studies  and  philosophy." 

Philemon  speaks  thus  of  Zeno,  in  his  play 
entitled  The  Philosophers :  — 

"  This  man  adopts  a  new  philosophy, 
He  teaches  to  be  hungry  ;  nevertheless, 
He  gets  disciples.    Bread  his  only  food, 
His  best  dessert  dried  figs  ;  water  his  drink." 

58 


THE  FOUNDERS  OF  STOICISM 

The  disciples  of  Zeno  were  very  numerous. 
Among  the  most  eminent  were,  Persaeus,  of 
Citium  ;  Ariston,  of  Chios,  the  son  of  Mil- 
tiades ;  Sphaerus,  of  the  Bosphorus ;  Phil- 
onides,  of  Theles ;  Callippus,  of  Corinth ; 
Posidonius,  of  Alexandria ;  Athenodorus,  of 
Soli ;  and  Zeno,  a  Sidonian.  But  one  of  the 
most  noted  was  Cleanthes,  of  Assos,  the  son 
of  Phanias,  and  we  owe  to  him  the  carrying 
out  and  elaboration  of  the  Stoic  philosophy. 
He  succeeded  Zeno,  and  while  he  was  not  his 
equal  in  point  of  knowledge,  by  his  genius  he 
raised  himself  from  a  humble  rank  in  life  to  a 
position  of  great  eminence.  His  natural  facul- 
ties were  slow,  but  resolution  and  perseverance 
enabled  him  to  overcome  every  difficulty.  He 
wrote  much,  but  none  of  his  writings  remain 
except  the  following  beautiful  hymn  to  Zeus, 
pronounced  by  Sir  Alexander  Grant  "the  most 
devotional  fragment  of  Grecian  antiquity." 

Most  glorious  God,  invoked  by  many  names, 

O  Zeus,  eternally  omnipotent, 

The  Lord  of  nature,  ruling  all  by  law, 

Hail !   For  all  men  may  speak  to  thee  unblamed  ; 

1  The  Ethics  of  Aristotle,  p.  328. 

59 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

From  thee  we  spring,  with  reasoned  speech  endowed 

Alone  of  tribes  that  live  and  creep  on  earth. 

Thee  will  I  hymn,  and  ever  sing  the  power. 

Thee  all  this  cosmos,  circling  round  the  earth, 

Obeys,  and  willingly  is  ruled  by  thee. 

Thou  holdest  in  unconquerable  hands 

So  grand  a  minister,  the  double-edged, 

The  burning,  ever  living  thunderbolt ; 

For  'neath  its  strokes,  all  things  in  nature  awed, 

Shudder ;  and  thou  therewith  directest  wise 

The  universal  reason,  which  through  all 

Roams,   mingling  with  the  lights  both  great  and 

small  .  .  . 

The  great  supreme,  all-penetrating  king. 
Nor  without  thee,  O  God,  is  any  work 
Performed  on  earth  or  sea,  or  in  the  vault 
Ethereal  and  divine,  save  whatso'er 
The  wicked  do  through  folly  of  their  own. 
But  thou  canst  perfect  make  e'en  monstrous  things, 
And  order  the  disordered  ;  things  not  dear 
Are  dear  to  thee  :  for  into  one  thou  so 
Hast  harmonized  the  whole,  the  good  and  ill, 
That  one  eternal  reason  dwells  in  all ; 
From  which  the  wicked  flee,  ill-fated  men, 
Who,  longing  ever  to  obtain  the  good, 
Nor  see  nor  hear  God's  universal  law, 
Obeying  which  they  might  achieve  a  life 
Worthy,  enriched  with  mind  ;   but  they  in  haste 
Forsaking  good,  seek  each  some  different  ill. 
For  glory  some  arouse  the  eager  strife ; 
And  some,  disordered,  turn  to  gain ;  and  some 
Pursue,  ungoverned,  bodily  delights. 

60 


THE  FOUNDERS  OF  STOICISM 

But  Zeus,  all  bounteous,  wrapt  in  sable  cloud, 
Thou  ruler  of  the  thunder,  oh  !  redeem 
Mankind  from  mournful  ignorance.   Do  thou 
Dispel,  O  Father,  from  our  souls  this  fault, 
And  grant  that  we  attain  that  wisdom  high 
On  which  relying  thou  dost  rule  the  world 
With  Justice ;  so  that,  honored  thus  by  thee, 
Thee  we  in  turn  may  honor,  and  may  hymn 
Unceasingly  thy  works,  as  doth  beseem 
A  mortal,  since  nor  men  nor  gods  can  know 
A  grander  honor  than  to  greatly  hymn 
The  universal  and  eternal  law. 

The  dynamical  theory  of  physics,  as 
founded  by  Thales,  developed  by  Anaxi- 
menes  and  Diogenes,  and  finally  consummated 
by  Heraclitus,  had  taught  that  the  universe 
was  an  eternal  living  being,  possessing  in  itself 
a  principle  of  vitality,  which,  by  spontane- 
ous development,  produced  all  phenomena, 
whether  physical  or  moral.  The  physical 
doctrines  of  Heraclitus  were  embodied  by 
Zeno  in  his  eclectic  system  of  philosophy. 
According  to  Heraclitus,  the  end  of  wisdom 
is  to  discover  the  ground  and  principle  of  all 
things,  which  is  an  eternal  and  ever-living 
unity,  and  pervades  and  is  in  all  phenomena. 
This  principle  is  not  distinct  from  the  soul  or 

61 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

vital  energy,  but  which,  as  guiding  and  direct- 
ing the  mundane  development,  is  endowed 
with  wisdom  and  intelligence.  This  supreme 
and  perfect  force  of  life  is  obviously  without 
limit  to  its  activity;  consequently,  nothing 
that  it  forms  can  remain  fixed;  all  is  con- 
stantly in  a  process  of  formation.  In  the 
eternal  flux  and  flow  of  being  constitutes  its 
reality;  even  as  in  a  river  the  water  is  ever 
changing,  and  the  river  exists  as  a  river  only 
in  virtue  of  this  continual  change.  This 
eternal  movement  Heraclitus  pictured  as  an 
eternal  strife  of  opposites,  -whose  differences 
consummate  themselves  in  finest  harmony. 
/  While  Zeno  adopted  this  theory  and  en- 
deavored to  identify  the  Cynic  "reason" 
which  is  a  law  for  man,  with  the  "reason' 
which  is  the  law  of  the  universe,  it  remained 
for  Cleanthes  to  take  this  idea  out  of  the 
region  of  ethics,  as  it  had  been  considered  by 
Zeno,  and  to  discover  the  motive  cause.  The 
vital  principle  pervading  all  phenomena  is  a 
purely  physical  fact,  and  accounts  for  the 
diverse  destinies  of  all  innumerable  particular 
things ;  it  is  the  true  cause  of  the  movement 

62 


THE  FOUNDERS  OF  STOICISM 

and  process  of  the  universe.  Herein  lies  the 
key  to  the  entire  system  of  the  Stoics. 

Doubtless  the  origin  and  success  of  the 
Stoic  philosophy  may  be  traced  to  the  inade- 
quacy of  the  Platonic  and  the  Aristotelian 
philosophy  to  discover  the  principle  of  con- 
nection between  God  and  the  sensible  world. 
The  doctrines,  however,  as  taught  by  Zeno 
and  his  followers,  contained  little  that  was 
new,  seeking  rather  to  give  a  practical  appre- 
ciation to  the  dogmas  which  they  took  ready- 
made  from  the  previous  systems.  With  them 
philosophy  is  the  science  of  the  principles  on 
which  the  moral  life  ought  to  be  founded. 

Cleanthes  was  succeeded  by  Chrysippus,  a 
native  of  Soli  or  of  Tarsus,  in  Cilicia,  who 
died  about  208  B.C.  He  was  a  man  of  much 
greater  attainments  than  Zeno  or  Cleanthes, 
and  he  has  been  regarded  as  the  chief  prop  of 
the  Stoic  school,  in  which  respect  it  was  said 
of  him,  that  without  Chrysippus  there  would 
have  been  no  Stoic  school  at  all.  Says  Diog- 
enes Laertius,  "  He  was  a  man  of  great  natural 
ability,  and  of  great  acuteness  in  every  way,  so 
that  in  many  points  he  dissented  from  Zeno, 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

and  also  from  Cleanthes,  to  whom  he  often 
used  to  say  that  he  only  wanted  to  be  in- 
structed in  the  dogmas  of  the  school,  and 
that  he  would  discover  the  demonstrations 
for  himself.  But  whenever  he  opposed  him 
with  any  vehemence,  he  always  repented,  so 
that  he  used  frequently  to  say :  — 

In  most  respects  I  am  a  happy  man, 
Excepting  where  Cleanthes  is  concerned ; 
For  in  that  matter  I  am  far  from  fortunate. 

And  he  had  such  a  high  reputation  as  a  dia- 
lectician that  most  people  thought  that  if  there 
were  such  a  science  as  dialectics  among  the 
gods,  it  would  be  in  no  respect  different  from 
that  of  Chrysippus.  But  though  he  was  emi- 
nently able  in  matter,  he  was  not  perfect  in 
style." 

Chrysippus  wrote,  according  to  Diogenes 
Laertius,  over  seven  hundred  books,  and  he 
often  wrote  several  books  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, wishing  to  put  down  everything  that  oc- 
curred to  him  ;  and  constantly  correcting  his 
previous  assertions,  and  using  a  great  abun- 
dance of  testimonies.  Chrysippus  assimilated, 

developed,  and  systematized  the  doctrines  of 

64 


THE  FOUNDERS  OF  STOICISM 

his  predecessors,  securing  them  in  their  stereo- 
typed and  final  form.  He  maintained  with  the 
Stoics  in  general,  that  the  world  was  God,  or 
a  universal  effusion  of  his  spirit,  and  that  the 
superior  part  of  this  spirit,  which  consisted  in 
mind  and  reason,  was  the  common  nature  of 
things,  containing  the  whole  and  every  part. 
Chrysippus  labored  after  thoroughness,  eru- 
dition, and  scientific  completeness.    In  dispu- 
tation he  discoursed  with  a  degree  of  prompti- 
tude and  confidence,  as  well  as  a  vehemence 
and  arrogance  which  created  him  many  adver- 
saries, particularly  in  the  Academic  and  Epi- 
curean sects.  He  supported  his  teachings  by  an 
immense  erudition,  and  culled  liberally  from 
the  poets  to  illustrate  and  enforce  his  views. 
Of  his  writings  nothing  remains,  except  a  few 
extracts  which  are  preserved  in  the  works  of 
Cicero,  Plutarch,  Seneca,  and  Aulus  Gellius. 
To  Zeno,  Cleanthes,  and  Chrysippus,  we 
owe   the   building  up   of  the   character  and 
spirit  of  Stoicism.  At  first,  owing  to  the  many 
rivals,  the  progress  of  Stoicism  was  very  slow, 
but  to  the  foundations  then  laid,  hardly  any- 
thing of  importance  was  afterwards  added. 

65 


DOCTRINES   OF  STOICISM 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Stoic  system,  like  the 
rest  of  the  great  Socratic  schools,  derived  its 
main  principles  first  at  Athens,  and  was  gradu- 
ally developed  by  Zeno,  Cleanthes,  and  Chry- 
sippus,  in  the  course  of  the  third  century 
before  our  era.  The  Stoics,  like  the  Epicureans, 
avoided  the  labor  of  original  invention.  In 
logic  and  dialectics  they  were  followers  of 
Aristotle  and  the  Cynics.  In  physics  they 
were  followers  of  Heraclitus,  Socrates,  and 
Aristotle.  With  the  exception  of  the  three- 
fold division  of  the  elements,  there  is  hardly 
a  single  point  of  the  Heraclitian  theory  of 
nature  which  the  Stoics  did  not  appropriate. 
Their  formal  logic  followed  that  of  Aristotle. 
The  Stoics,  however,  conceived  the  individual 
as  no  longer  the  political  being  conceived  by 
Aristotle.  They  rose  above  the  city  to  the 
notion  of  a  more  comprehensive  fellowship 

66 


DOCTRINES  OF  STOICISM 

of  mankind.  Says  Aristotle,  "  the  chief  good 
of  man  consists  in  the  full  realization  and 
perfection  of  the  life  of  man  as  man,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  specific  excellence  belong- 
ing to  that  life,  and  if  there  be  more  specific 
excellence  than  one,  then  in  accordance  with 
that  excellence  which  is  the  best  and  the  most 
rounded  and  complete."  This  is  in  fact  the 
teaching  of  Socrates  and  Plato. 

In  ethics  the  Stoics  followed  Socrates,  the 
Cynics,  and  the  philosophers  of  the  Old 
Academy,  but  they  gradually  diverged  further 
and  further  from  the  Cynics,  although  the  self- 
sufficiency  of  virtue,  the  distinction  of  things 
good,  evil,  and  indifferent,  the  ideal  pictures  of 
the  wise  man,  the  whole  withdrawal  from  the 
outer  world  within  the  precincts  of  the  mind, 
and  the  strength  of  the  moral  will,  are  ideas 
taken  from  the  Cynics.  The  Stoics  them- 
selves, however,  deduced  their  philosophical 
pedigree  direct  from  Antisthenes,  or  the 
Cynics,  and  indirectly  from  Socrates. 

The  Stoic  doctrine  showed  itself  to  be  an 
essentially  practical  one  by  laying  the  most 
stress  on  a  proper  mode  of  life,  but  this  proper 

67 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

mode  of  life  must  proceed,  as  Socrates  re- 
quired, from  a  proper  conviction,  and  by  the 
appreciation  of  a  certain  standard,  or  criterion. 
The  Stoics  have  connected  philosophy 
most  intimately  with  the  duties  of  practical 
life.  Philosophy  is  with  them  the  practice  of 
wisdom,  the  exercise  of  virtue.  Virtue  is  the 
perfect  adjustment  of  all  the  desires  and  acts 
of  the  soul — in  Christian  phraseology,  the 
submission  of  the  will  to  the  universal  and 
persistent  logos,  the  divine  reason  and  provi- 
dence. Virtue  is  thus,  necessarily,  one  and  in- 
divisible. This  ethical  view  is  essentially  the 
same  with  that  of  the  most  rigid  Christian 
sects.  Virtue  consists  in  bringing  man's  actions 
into  harmony  with  the  laws  of  the  universe, 
and  with  the  general  order  of  the  world.  This 
is  only  possible  when  man  knows  that  order 

and  those  laws.  With  the  Stoics,  virtue  and 

g 

science  are  one,  in  so  far,  at  least,  that  they 
divide  virtue  in  reference  to  philosophy  into 
physical,  ethical,  and  logical.  The  Stoics  not 
only  define  philosophy  as  the  art  of  virtue,  or 
the  effort  to  attain  it,  but  give  as  the  reason 
of  its  division  into  logic,  physics,  and  ethics, 

68 


DOCTRINES  OF  STOICISM 

the  fact  that  there  are  logical,  physical,  and 
ethical  virtues.  They  use  the  name  of  logic, 
because  it  treats  of  the  logos,  i.e.,  thought  or 
the  word,1  together  with  the  production  of 
both.  This  they  divided  into  rhetoric  and  dia- 
lectic, the  arts  of  monologue  and  dialogue  re- 
spectively, because  it  is  possible  to  speak  either 
for  one's  self,  for  others,  and  with  others.  The 
elaborate  divisions  and  subdivisions  into 
which  they  divided  both  rhetoric  and  dialec- 
tic, it  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  speak  of,  as 
many  of  them  now  seem  trivial,  useless,  and 
irrelevant  to  what  is  known  as  formal  logic. 
They  laid  particular  stress  upon  hypothetical 
and  disjunctive  syllogisms,  which  they  did  not 
introduce,  but  adopted  from  Aristotle.  From 
Heraclitus  to  the  Stoics,  and  from  the  Stoics 
to  Philo  Judaeus,  the  term  logos  passed,  but 
constantly  changed  and  modified.  Heraclitus 
found  the  logos  inseparable  from  the  world. 
In  man  it  is  the  soul.  It  was  in  no  sense 
speech  or  word,  but  it  was  the  relation  or 

1  The  Greek  term  logos  has  a  peculiar  significance  in 
Philo,  St.  John,  and  the  early  Greek  Fathers,  and  is  an 
important  item  in  the  history  of  Christology. 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

reason  of  things  objectively.  This  operative 
principle,  with  the  Stoics,  is  the  active  prin- 
ciple which  lives  in  and  determines  the  world, 
and  is  even  called  God,  though  conceived  as 
material. 

'In  logic,  the  Stoics  found  the  criterion  of 
knowledge  in  sensuous  impressions,  which 
furnish  the  materials  fashioned  by  reason,  and 
combated  scepticism  by  affirming  that  every 
representation  of  an  object  implied  the  exist- 
ence of  the  object  itself;  it,  they  said,  is 
nothing  else  than  a  representation  which  is 
produced  by  a  present  object  in  a  manner 
like  itself.  The  soul  is  conceived  as  a  blank 
tablet  upon  which  the  object  produces  a  con- 
ception either  by  actual  impressions  or  by 
altering  the  psychical  condition,  from  which 
there  is  subsequently  generated  by  repeti- 
tions, first  expectation  and  finally  experience. 
Plutarch  refers  to  this  as  follows : 

"When  we  perceive,  for  example,  a  white 
object,  the  recollection  remains  when  the  ob- 
ject is  gone.  And  when  many  similar  recol- 
lections have  accumulated,  we  have  what  is 
called  experience.  Besides  the  ideas  which  we 

70 


DOCTRINES  OF  STOICISM 

get  in  this  natural  and  quiet  undesigned  way, 
there  are  other  ideas  which  we  get  through 
teaching  and  information.  In  the  strict  way 
only  these  latter  ought  to  be  called  ideas,  the 
former  rather  should  be  called  perceptions. 
Now  the  rational  faculty,  in  virtue  of  which 
we  are  called  reasoning  beings,  is  developed 
out  of,  or  over  and  beyond,  the  mass  of  per- 
ceptions, in  the  second  seven  years'  period  of 
life.  In  fact  a  thought  may  be  defined  as  a 
kind  of  mental  image,  such  as  a  rational  ani- 
mal alone  is  capable  of  having." 

The  Stoics  regarded  sensations  as  the  only  ' 
source  of  all  perceptions.  Perceptions  give 
rise  to  memory,  repeated  acts  of  memory  to  \ 
experience,  and  conclusions  based  on  experi- 
ence suggest  conceptions  which  go  beyond 
the  sphere  of  direct  sensation.  The  forma- 
tion of  conceptions  by  comparison,  or  upon 
the  combination  of  perceptions,  or  upon 
analogy,  sometimes  takes  place  methodically 
and  artificially,  at  other  times  naturally  and 
spontaneously.  Thus  the  Stoics  conceived 
that  they  had  answered  the  whole  problem, 
in  affirming  that  the  true  or  conceivable  repre- 

71 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

sentation  reveals  not  only  itself,  but  also  its 
object. 

This  theory  of  Zeno,  undoubtedly  adopted 
from  Plato,  was  persistently  attacked  by  the 
Epicureans  and  Academics,  who  made  clear 
that  reason  is  dependent  upon,  if  not  derived 
from,  sense,  and  that  the  utterances  of  reason 
lack  consistency.  Chrysippus,  as  a  concession 
to  his  opponents,  substituted  for  the  logos  the 
new  standards  of  sensation  and  general  cc/n- 
ception — anticipation,  that  is  the  generic  type 
formed  in  the  mind  unconsciously  and  spon- 
taneously. It  was  under  Chrysippus  that  the 
formal  logic  of  the  Stoics  reached  scientific 
completeness.  Zeller  says,  however,  "  making 
every  allowance  for  the  extension  of  the  field 
of  logic,  in  scientific  precision  it  lost  more 
than  it  gained  by  the  labors  of  Chrysippus." 
He  considers  that  no  very  high  estimate  can 
be  formed  of  the  formal  logic  of  the  Stoics. 
"  We  see,  indeed,  that  the  greatest  care  was 
expended  by  the  Stoics  since  the  time  of 
Chrysippus  in  tracing  the  forms  of  intellectual 
procedure  into  their  minutest  ramifications, 
and  referring  them  to  fixed  types.  At  the  same 

72 


DOCTRINES  OF  STOICISM 

time,  we  see  that  the  real  business  of  logic 
was  lost  sight  of  in  the  process,  the  business 
of  portraying  the  operations  of  thought,  and 
giving  its  laws,  whilst  the  most  useless  trifling 
with  forms  was  recklessly  indulged  in.  The 
Stoics  can  have  made  no  discoveries  of  im- 
portance even  as  to  logical  forms,  or  they 
would  not  have  been  passed  over  by  writers 
ever  on  the  alert  to  note  the  slightest  devia- 
tion from  the  Aristotelian  logic.  Hence  the 
whole  contribution  of  the  Stoics  to  the  field 
of  logic  consists  in  their  having  clothed  the 
logic  of  the  Peripatetics  with  a  new  termin- 
ology, and  having  developed  certain  parts  of 
it  with  painful  minuteness,  whilst  they  wholly 
neglected  other  parts,  as  was  the  fate  of  the 
part  treating  of  inference." 

Physics,  or  the  'Theory  of  Nature.  In  their 
physics,  where  they  follow  for  the  most  part 
Heraclitus,  the  Stoics  are  distinguished  from 
their  predecessors,  especially  from  Plato  and 
Aristotle,  by  their  thoroughly  carried  out 
proposition  that  nothing  incorporeal  exists, 
that  everything  essential  is  corporeal.  With- 

1  Zeller,  The  Stoics,  Epicureans  and  Sceptics,  p.  123. 

73 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN   STOICISM 

fin  the  corporeal  they  recognized  two  prin- 
ciples, matter  and  force,  i.e.,  the  material, 
and  the  Deity  permeating  and  influencing  it. 
Ultimately,  however,  the  two  are  identical. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  world  with  any  inde- 
pendent existence  :  all  is  bound  together  by 
a»  unalterable  chain  of  causation.  They, 
therefore,  considered  God  and  matter  as  one 
identical  substance,  which,  on  the  side  of  its 
passive  and  changeable  capacity  they  call  mat- 
ter, and  on  the  side  of  its  active  and  change- 
less energy,  God.  There  is  in  reality  but  one 
being  existing.  We  may  call  him  God,  or  we 
may  call  him  the  universe.  The  one  is  God 
active,  the  other  is  God  passive.  The  one  is 
the  life,  the  other  is  the  body  which  is  ani- 
mated by  the  life.  But  since  the  Stoics  con- 
sidered the  world  ensouled  by  God  in  the 
light  of  a  living  and  rational  being,  they  were 
obliged  to  treat  the  conception  of  God  not 
only  in  a  physical  but  also  in  its  ethical  as- 
pect. God  is  the  source  of  all  character  and 
individuality,  who  is  indestructible  and  eter- 
nal, the  fashioner  of  all  things,  who  in  certain 
cycles  of  ages  gathers  up  all  things  unto  him- 

74 


DOCTRINES  OF  STOICISM 

self,  and  then  out  of  himself  brings  them 
again  to  birth  ;  there  is  the  matter  of  the  uni- 
verse wherein  God  works,  and  there  is  also 
the  union  of  the  two.  This  is  the  totality  of 
all  existence ;  out  of  it  the  whole  universe 
proceeds,  hereafter  to  be  again  resolved  into 
it.  The  world  is  governed  by  reason  and 
forethought,  and  this  reason  extends  through 
every  part.  The  universe,  therefore,  is  a  liv- 
ing thing,  having  a  soul  or  reason  in  it.  That 


O  G'  <_> 

every  existence  must  have  a  body  was  the 
doctrine  which  moulded  the  whole  of  the 
theology  of  the  Stoics.  The  very  indefinite- 
*  ness  in  which  they  left  the  idea  of  the  corpo- 
real, showed  that  they  were  far  removed  from 
the  school  of  the  Epicureans.  Emotions,  im- 
pulses, notions  and  judgments,  in  so  far  as 
they  are  due  to  material  causes,  were  regarded 
as  material  objects,  and  for  the  same  reason 
not  only  artistic  skill  but  individual  actions 
were  said  to  be  corporeal. 

Treated  in  its  ethical  aspect,  God  is  not 
only  in  the  world  as  the  ruling  and  living 
energy,  but  is  also  the  universal  reason  which 
rules  the  whole  world  and  penetrates  all  mat- 

75 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

ter :  he  is  the  gracious  Providence  which 
cares  for  the  individual  and  the  whole  ;  he  is 
wise,  and  is  the  ground  of  that  natural  law 
which  commands  the  good  and  forbids  the 
evil ;  he  punishes  and  rewards  ;  he  possesses 
a  perfect  and  blessed  life.  To  the  question, 
what  is  God  ?  Stoicism  rejoins,  what  is  God 
not  P  Everything  in  the  world  seemed  to 
them  to  be  permeated  by  the  divine  life, 
and  was  regarded  as  but  flowing  out  of  the 
most  perfect  life  through  certain  channels, 
until  it  returned  in  a  necessary  cycle  back 
again  to  itself.  Everywhere  was  one  universal 
law  pervading  and  ruling  all  things  and  all 
beings,  and  that  law,  if  stern,  was  righteous, 
and  enjoined  virtue  in  man.  Man  can  only 
lead  a  rational  life  by  conforming  to  a  general 
law,  and  he  rises  or  falls  in  the  scale  of  dig- 
nity and  happiness  as  he  succeeds  or  fails  in 
doing  thus  with  persistent  purpose.  Tiede- 
mann  says  of  the  Stoics,  "  Among  all  philos- 
ophers of  antiquity,  none  defended  the  exist- 
ence of  God  with  so  warm  a  zeal  or  so  many 
powerful  arguments." 

It  is  thus  seen  that  the  system  of  the  Stoics 

76 


DOCTRINES  OF  STOICISM 

was  strictly  pantheistic,1  as  they  admitted  no 
essential  difference  between  God  and  the 
world.  In  discussing  the  question  as  to  what 
led  the  Stoics  to  this  materialism,  Zeller  con- 
siders that  the  real  causes  will  be  found  in  the 
central  idea  of  the  whole  system  of  the  Stoics 
—  the  practical  character  of  their  philosophy. 
"  Devoting  themselves  from  the  outset  with 
all  their  energies  to  practical  inquiries,  the 
Stoics  in  their  theory  of  nature  occupied  the 
ground  of  common  views,  which  know  of  no 
real  object  excepting  what  is  grossly  sensible 
and  corporeal.  Their  aim  in  speculation  was 
to  discover  a  firm  basis  for  human  actions.  In 
action,  however,  men  are  brought  into  direct 

1  The  speculations  which  have  been  called  pantheistic 
are  legitimate  exercises  of  the  human  intellect.  They  are 
efforts  to  think  and  speak  of  God  under  the  aspects  in 
which  God  has  appeared  to  different  minds,  or  has  been 
viewed  under  different  relations.  To  call  God  Being,  Non- 
being,  Substance,  Becoming,  Nature,  the  Absolute,  the 
infinite  I,  the  Thought  of  the  Universe,  or  the  "not  our- 
selves ' '  which  works  for  righteousness,  is  to  speak  of  God 
with  the  imperfections  of  human  thought  and  language, 
and  yet  such  names  are  as  legitimate  as  Creator,  vast  De- 
signer, eternal  Geometrician,  or  to  those  who  receive  it, 
even  as  Lord,  Supreme  Ruler,  or  Father  of  men.  —  Pan- 
theism and  Christianity,  John  Hunt,  D.D.,  p.  397. 

77 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

and  experimental  contact  with  objects.  The 
objects  thus  presented  to  the  senses  we  are 
brought  face  to  face  with  in  naked  reality,  nor 
is  an  opportunity  afforded  for  doubting  their 
real  being.  Their  reality  is  proved  practically, 
inasmuch  as  it  affects  us  and  offers  itself  for 
the  exercise  of  our  powers.  In  every  such  ex- 
ercise of  power,  both  subject  and  object  are 
always  material.  Even  when  an  impression  is 
conveyed  to  the  soul  of  man,  the  direct  instru- 
ment is  something  material — the  voice  or  the 
gesture.  In  the  region  of  experience  there  are 
no  such  things  as  non-material  impressions. 
This  was  the  ground  occupied  by  the  Stoics : 
a  real  thing  is  what  either  acts  on  us,  or  is 
acted  upon  by  us.  Such  a  thing  is  naturally 
material,  and  the  Stoics,  with  their  practical 
ideas,  not  being  able  to  soar  above  that  which 
is  most  obvious,  declared  that  reality  belongs 
only  to  the  world  of  bodies."  l 

Ethics.  The  philosophy  of  the  Stoics  cul- 
minated in  their  ethics.  In  its  speculation  on 
the  origin  of  things,  still  more  in  its  ethical 
ideal,  Stoicism  is  very  near  to  some  of  the 

1  Stoics,  Epicureans  and  Sceptics,  p.  134. 

78 


DOCTRINES  OF  STOICISM 

noblest  phases  of  Christian  theology  and 
•morals.  Their  ethics  were  a  protest  against 
moral  indifference ;  their  followers  were  taught 
to  live  in  harmony  with  nature,  conformably 
with  reason  and  the  demands  of  universal 
good.  They  taught  that  it  is  wisdom  alone 
that  renders  men  happy,  that  the  ills  of  life 
are  but  fancied  evils,  and  that  a  wise  man 
ought  not  to  be  moved  with  either  joy  or 
grief,  but  to  show  the  utmost  indifference  to 
pleasure,  pain,  and  all  external  good  or  evil. 

The  chief  end  of  life  is  cc  A  life  consistent 
with  itself,"  or,  as  it  was  otherwise  expressed, 
"  A  life  consistent  with  nature."  The  first 
object  of  man  is  the  preservation  of  his  own 
existence  and  his  consciousness  of  his  own 
existence.  This  is  its  life  according  to  nature; 
this  is  virtue  and  the  chief  good, —  for  virtue 
and  the  chief  good  can  be  only  life  according 
to  nature.  Therefore  live  in  harmony  with  thy 
rational  nature  so  far  as  this  has  not  been  dis- 
torted nor  refined  by  art,  but  is  held  in  its 
natural  simplicity.  In  the  "  life  consistent  with 
nature '  is  included  also,  life  in  and  accord- 
ing to  a  social  order,  for  nature  is  but  a  syn- 

79 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

onym  for  reason,  and  society  is  but  a  natural 
offspring  of  reason,  the  common  nature  of 
mankind.  Herein  we  discover  an  internal 
source  of  the  external  harmony  and  regularity 
of  a  consistent  life.  The  Stoics  taught  that 
nature  counts  for  everything  and  external  per- 
formances for  very  little.  Once  let  the  reason 
become  right,  and  it  imparts  this  character  to 
all  that  it  affects.  First  the  soul  is  made  strong, 
healthy,  and  beautiful ;  when,  therefore,  it  thus 
fulfils  all  the  conditions  of  its  being,  it  is  ab- 
solutely perfect.  Nothing  can  be  conformable 
to  nature  for  any  individual  thing,  unless  it 
be  in  harmony  with  the  law  of  the  universe, 
or  with  the  universal  reason  of  the  world. 

From  this  moral  principle  we  deduce  the 
Stoic  conception  of  virtue,  which  is  a  rational 
life,  an  agreement  with  the  general  course  of  the 
world.  Only  virtue  is  good,  and  happiness  con- 
sists exclusively  in  virtue.  The  virtue  of  man 
is  the  perfection  of  his  soul,  i.e.,  of  the  ruling 
part  or  rational  soul;  make  the  soul  perfect 
and  you  make  the  life  perfect.  Then  life  will 
flow  on  smoothly  and  uniformly,  like  a  gentle 
river.  No  longer  will  there  be  anything  to 

80 


DOCTRINES  OF  STOICISM 

hope  or  fear;  this  harmonious  accord  between 
impulses  and  acts  is  itself  man's  well-being  or 
welfare.  Happiness  consists  in  independence 
and  peace  of  mind  rather  than  in  the  enjoy- 
ment which  moral  conduct  brings  with  it.  To 
be  free  from  disquietude,  says  Seneca,  is  the 
peculiar  privilege  of  the  wise  ;  the  advantage 
which  is  gained  by  philosophy  is,  that  of  liv- 
ing without  fear,  and  rising  superior  to  the 
troubles  of  life. 

, 

The  Stoics  held  that  pains  are  an  evil,  but, 
by  a  proper  discipline,  may  be  triumphed 
over.  They  disallowed  the  direct  and  osten- 
sible pursuit  of  pleasure  as  an  end  (the  point 
of  view  of  Epicurus),  but  allowed  it  to  their 
followers  partly  by  promising  them  the  victory 
over  pain,  and  partly  by  certain  enjoyments 
of  an  elevated  cast  that  grew  out  of  their  plan 
of  life.  Pain  of  every  kind,  whether  from  the 
casualties  of  existence,  or  from  the  severity  of 
the  Stoical  virtues,  was  to  be  met  with  by  a 
discipline  of  evidence,  a  hardening  process 
which,  if  persisted  in,  would  succeed  in  re- 
ducing the  mind  to  a  state  of  apathy  or  indif- 
ference. Even  pleasure  and  pain,  however,  so 

81 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

far  as  concerns  the  absolute  end  or  happiness 
of  our  being,  are  things  indifferent;  we  can- 
not call  them  either  good  or  evil.  Yet  they 
have  a  relation  to  the  higher  law,  for  the  con- 
sciousness of  them  was  so  implanted  in  us  at 
the  first  that  our  souls  by  natural  impulse  are 
drawn  to  pleasure,  while  they  shrink  from 
pain  as  from  a  deadly  enemy.  Things  indif- 
ferent are  things  that  are  neither  beneficial 
nor  injurious,  such  as  life,  health,  pleasure, 
beauty,  strength,  riches,  good  reputation,  no- 
bility of  birth,  and  their  contraries,  death, 
disease,  labor,  disgrace,  weakness,  poverty, 
and  bad  reputation,  baseness  of  birth,  and 
the  like.1 

Great  stress  was  laid  on  the  instability  of 
pleasure,  and  the  constant  liability  to  acci- 
dents: whence  we  should  always  be  anticipat- 
ing and  adapting  ourselves  to  the  worst  that 
could  happen,  so  as  never  to  be  in  a  state 
where  anything  could  ruffle  the  mind.  It  was 
pointed  out  how  much  might  still  be  made  of 
the  worst  circumstances  —  poverty,  banish- 
ment, public  odium,  sickness,  old  age — and 

'Diogenes  Laertius,  Life  of  Zeno,  p.  292. 

82 


DOCTRINES  OF  STOICISM 

every  consideration  was  advanced  that  could 
"arm  the  obdurate  breast  with  stubborn  pa- 
tience, as  with  triple  steel." 

The  Wise  Man.  How  must  we  act  in  every 
incfividual  instance,  in  every  moral  relation, 
so  as  to  act  according  to  nature?  To  answer 
this  question,  the  Stoics  describe  in  general 
terms  the  action  according  to  nature,  and  por- 
traying their  ideal  of  the  wise  man.  The 


man  is  he  who,  being  perfect  in  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  of  the  universe,  above  all 
passion,  and  completely  governed  by  reason, 
is  perfectly  contained  and  self-satisfied,  —  a 
fit  companion  for  the  gods,  yes,  even  for 
Zeus  himself.  He  who  possesses  virtue  pos- 
sesses it  whole  and  entire;  he  who  lacks  it 
lacks  it  altogether.  The  wise  man  is  drawn  as 
perfect.  All  he  does  is  right,  all  his  opinions 
are  true;  he  alone  is  free,  rich,  beautiful, 
skilled  to  govern,  capable  of  giving  or  receiv- 
ing a  benefit.  Only  the  wise  man  is  capable 
of  feeling  gratitude,  love,  and  friendship. 
The  wise  man,  therefore,  is  the  perfect  hu- 
man being;  that  is,  perfectly  adjusted  to  the 
rest  of  the  universe,  of  which  he  forms  a 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

part.  The  one  problem  of  life  is  to  make  the 
divine  reason  paramount  and  supreme  in 
the  sphere  of  one's  own  conduct.  The  wise 
man  is  directed  to  remember  that  Nature,  in 
her  operations,  aims  at  the  universal,  and 
never  spares  individuals,  but  uses  them  as 
means  for  accomplishing  her  ends.  It  is  for 
him,  therefore,  to  submit  to  his  destiny,  en- 
deavoring continually  to  establish  the  supre- 
macy of  reason,  and  cultivating,  as  the  things 
necessary  to  virtue,  knowledge,  temperance, 
fortitude,  justice.  It  was  a  great  point  with  ; 
the  Stoic  to  be  conscious  of  "advance,"  or 
improvement.  By  self-examination,  he  kept 
himself  constantly  acquainted  with  his  moral 
state,  and  it  was  both  his  duty  and  his  satis- 
faction to  be  approaching  to  the  ideal  of  the 
perfect  man.  In  this  picture  of  the  wise  man, 
the  moral  idealism  of  the  Stoic  system  at- 
tained its  zenith. 


84 


VI 
ROMAN  STOICISM 

AFTER  the  time  of  Chrysippus,  details 
showing  the  practical  application  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Stoics  to  the  special  relations  of 
life,  engrossed  much  of  the  attention  of  the 
Stoic  philosophers.  The  Stoic  doctrine  was 
but  rarely  kept  pure  by  its  adherents;  some 
diluted  it,  as  did  Epictetus  and  Seneca,  so  that 
it  became  a  mere  system  of  practical  wisdom, 
and  others  exaggerated  it  by  ascetic  additions  . 
derived  from  the  doctrines  and  rules  of  the  Py- 
thagoreans and  Cynics.  Posidonius  enumer- 
ates, as  belonging  to  the  province  of  moral  phil- 
osophy, precept,  exhortation,  and  advice.  He 
held  that  reason  cannot,  as  the  earlier  Stoics 
declared,  be  the  cause  of  the  passions,  which, 
he  thought,  are  by  nature  irrational,  but  that 
reason  and  the  passions  exist  side  by  side  in 
the  soul  as  distinct  faculties.  Mere  thought  or 
will  is  not  sufficient  to  arouse  and  control  pas- 

85 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

sion,  except  in  highly  cultivated  natures.  By 
this  view  Posidonius  relaxed  the  evident  strain 
in  the  system  of  the  earlier  Stoics  upon  the 
faith  of  ordinary  consciousness  in  its  own  im- 
mediate presentiments. 

Although  Stoicism,  as  we  have  seen,  arose 
on  Hellenic  soil,  the  school  can  hardly  be  con- 
sidered a  product  of  Greek  intellect,  although 
the  Romans  never  added  a  single  principle  to 
the  philosophy  which  the  Greeks  elaborated. 
Stoicism  did  not,  however,  achieve  its  crown- 
ing triumph  until  it  was  brought  to  Rome, 
where  for  over  two  hundred  years  it  was  the 
creed,  if  not  the  philosophy  of  all  the  best  of 
the  Romans,  and  notably  in  ethics  and  juris- 
prudence. Stoicism  has  demonstrated  the 
thought  of  after  ages  to  a  surprising  degree. 
We  find  the  most  famous  names  in  connection 
with  the  Stoic  doctrine,  belonging  to  the  Ro- 
man world.  The  Roman  type  of  character 
from  the  first  was  moulded  on  the  Stoic  lines. 
"The  sternness,  the  strength,  the  indomitable 
endurance  of  the  Roman  :  his  indifference  to 
intellectual  speculation  or  intellectual  activity 
of  any  sort,  his  moral  dignity,  his  devotion  to 

86 


ROMAN  STOICISM 

duty,  and  the  simplicity  of  his  tastes  and 
habits  —  which  lent  a  strong  tinge  to  the  char- 
acter of  even  the  degenerate  Romans  of  the 
Empire  —  seem  to  mark  out  the  Roman  as 
the  typical  Stoic."1 

Panaetius  was  the  chief  founder  of  Ro- 
man Stoicism,  which  played  so  important  a 
part  in  the  history  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
He,  however,  departed  more  widely  than  any 
of  the  later  Stoics  from  the  dogmatic  spirit 
and  the  tenets  of  the  earlier.  Panaetius  was  a 
man  of  means  and  culture,  belonging  to  one  of 
the  oldest  and  most  distinguished  families  of 
Rhodes.  He  studied  under  Diogenes,  at 
Athens,  and  was  a  member  of  the  historic 
embassy  which  proceeded  from  Athens  to 
Rome  in  155  B.C.,  to  plead  for  toleration  for 
philosophers.  The  Stoic  school  was  repre- 
sented by  Diogenes,  but  its  most  active 
apostle  was  Panaetius.  At  Rome  he  was  re- 
ceived into  the  circle  of  the  younger  Scipio 
and  his  friend  Laertius,  also  of  the  historian 
Polybius  and  the  poets  Terence  and  Lucre- 
tius, and  he  was  able  to  gain  numerous  adher- 

1  Brown,  Stoics  and  Saints,  p.  35. 

8? 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

ents  among  the  Roman  nobles  by  his  skill  in 
softening  the  harshness  and  subtlety  of  the 
Stoic  teaching,  and  in  representing  it  in  a  re- 
fined and  polished  form.  Cicero  himself  said 
that  he  chiefly  followed  Panaetius,  not  as  a 
mere  translator,  but  corrections  quadam  adhib- 
it a.  His  treatise  upon  Propriety  of  Conduct 
(De  Officia)  is  based  confessedly  upon  a  trea- 
tise of  Panaetius,  while  containing  references 
to  other  teachers  of  the  Stoicism,  such  as 
Antipater  and  Posidonius. 

Panaetius  was  not  apparently  a  strict  Stoic, 
but  rather  an  eclectic  philosopher,  who  tem- 
pered the  austerity  of  his  sect  by  adopting 
something  of  the  more  refined  style  and 
milder  principles  of  Plato  and  other  earlier 
Academicians.  He  modified  the  rigid  tenets 
of  his  sect  to  make  it  the  practical  rule  of  life 
of  statesmen,  politicians  and  others,  and  dwelt 
upon  the  practical  aspects  of  the  creed,  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  that  might  appear  as  too  dia- 
lectic. Aulus  Gellius  says  that  Panaetius  re- 
jected the  principle  of  apathy  adopted  by  the 
earlier  Stoics,  and  returned  to  Zeno's  original 
meaning,  namely,  that  the  wise  man  ought  to 

88 


ROMAN  STOICISM 

know  how  to  master  the  impressions  which 
he  receives  through  the  senses.  He  accommo- 
dated the  Stoic  theology  to  the  popular  re- 
ligion, and  the  Stoic  ethical  system  to  popular 
sentiment. 

At  Rome  Stoicism  fell  upon  congenial  soil; 
the  time  was  ripe  for  its  acceptance  ;  it  was, 
in  fact,  the  one  philosophy  congenial  to  the 
Roman  type.  Says  Rendall ' :  — 

"  The  emphasis  it  laid  on  morals,  the  firm- 
ness and  austerity  of  its  code,  the  harshness 
of  its  judgment  on  defaulters,  the  stern  repu- 
diation of  emotional  considerations  and  im- 
pulses, even  the  narrowness  and  inflexibility 
of  its  moral  logic,  all  commended  it  to  Roman 
sympathies.  The  strength  of  Rome,  the  secret 
of  her  empire,  lay  in  character^  in  an  operative 
code  of  honor,  domestic,  civic,  and  (more  at 
least  than  in  other  states)  international.  And 
the  Stoic  conception  of  virtue  corresponded 
closely  to  the  range  of  qualities  denoted  by 
Roman  virtus — manliness.  The  traditional 
type  of  Roman  patriot,  the  patrician  stead- 
fastness of  a  Camillus  or  Dentatus,  the  devo- 

1  Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus  to  Himself,  p.  xciii. 

89 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

tion  of  a  Deems,  the  dogged  self-sacrifice  of 
a  Regulus,  the  sternness  of  a  Brutus  ordering 
his  disobedient  son  to  execution,  the  immova- 
ble and  often  ruthless  allegiance  to  the  con- 
stituted order  of  the  commonwealth,  were 
treasured  historical  exemplifications  of  un- 
formulated  Stoicism.  Its  very  narrowness  and 
obstinacy  of  view  was  in  its  favor.  Cato  (of 
Utica)  was  typically  Roman,  and  by  his  faults 
and  limitations  as  much  as  his  backbone  of 
virtue  became  for  a  time  the  ideal  of  Roman 
Stoicism/' 

At  a  time  when  there  was  no  belief  or  doc- 
trine which  offered  support  to  men  in  their 
hour  of  trial,  the  doctrines  taught  by  the  Stoics 
were  a  source  of  consolation  and  a  guide  in 
the  vicissitudes  of  life,  to  many  of  the  great 
philosophers,  statesmen,  and  even  emperors 
of  Rome.  In  Rome  there  was  a  universal 
corruption  and  depravity  of  manners.  The 
religion  of  the  time  had  not  the  least  influ- 
ence towards  exciting  or  nourishing  solid  and 
true  virtue  in  the  minds  of  men.  It  had  but 
little  if  any  influence  on  man's  moral  nature, 
and  so  long  as  there  was  a  ceremonial  obedi- 

90 


ROMAN  STOICISM 

ence,  there  was  no  occasion  to  look  for  any 
spiritual  influence  beyond.  The  devout  man 
was  he  who  punctually  performed  his  reli- 
gious obligations,  who  was  pious  according  to 
law.  It  was  only  the  philosophers  who  could 
comprehend  the  one  God ;  the  imaginations 
of  the  uneducated  were  only  engaged  with  the 
numerous  powers  and  energies  flowing  forth 
from  that  one  Highest  Being.  Plato  said,  that 
it  was  hard  to  find  out  the  Father  of  all,  and 
that  it  was  impossible,  when  you  had  found 
him,  to  make  him  known  to  all. 

The  vivid  imagination  of  the  Greek  turned 
every  deity  of  his  religion  into  a  stronger, 
wiser,  and  more  beautiful  man.  All  that  the 
Roman  knew  of  his  gods  was  that  the  custom 
of  his  fathers  required  him  to  offer  them 
prayers  and  sacrifices  at  particular  times  and 
seasons.  Seneca  in  his  Contra  Superstitiones 
says :  "  We  must  pray  to  that  great  multi- 
tude of  common  gods,  which  in  a  long  course 
of  time  a  multifarious  superstition  has  col- 
lected, with  this  feeling,  that  we  are  well  aware 
that  the  reverence  shown  to  them  is  a  compli- 
ance rather  with  custom,  than  a  thing  due  to 

9' 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN   STOICISM 

the  actual  truth.  All  these  things  the  philoso- 
pher will  observe,  as  something  commanded 
by  the  law,  not  as  a  thing  pleasing  to  the 
gods."  So  Plutarch  says:  "He  feigns  prayer 
and  adoration  from  fear  of  multitude !  and  he 
utters  words  which  are  against  his  own  con- 
viction; and  while  he  is  sacrificing,  the  priest 
who  slays  the  victim  is  to  him  only  a  butcher."1 
The  more  intelligent  of  the  Romans  looked 
upon  the  whole  religious  system  as  a  just  ob- 
ject of  ridicule  and  contempt.  Ovid  said  that 
"the  existence  of  the  gods  is  a  matter  of  public 
policy,  and  we  must  believe  it  accordingly." 
In  Rome  there  was  a  crop  of  superstitions 
native  to  the  soil,  divination  of  all  kinds,  scep- 
ticism and  superstition,  Chaldean  astrology, 
the  sensual  rites  of  Cybele,  and  the  fouler 
orgies  of  the  Bacchanalia.  The  gods,  above 
all  things  else,  were  instruments  for  helping 
man  to  the  attainment  of  very  substantial 
earthly  objects.  Lecky  in  his  European  Morals 
describes  religion  as  follows:  "The  Roman 
religion  was  purely  selfish.  It  was  simply  a 
method  of  obtaining  prosperity,  averting  ca- 

1  Epicurum,  ch.  22. 

92 


ROMAN  STOICISM 

lamity,  and  reading  the  future.  Ancient  Rome 
produced  many  heroes,  but  no  saints.  Its  self- 
sacrifice  was  patriotic,  not  religious."  What 
religion  had  come  to  in  the  minds  of  the  more 
intelligent  people,  may  be  seen  in  this  extract 
from  the  elder  Pliny :  — 

"All  religion  is  the  offspring  of  necessity, 
weakness,  and  fear.  What  God  is,  if  in  truth 
he  be  anything  distinct  from  the  world,  it  is 
beyond  the  compass  of  man's  understanding 
to  know.  But  it  is  a  foolish  delusion,  which 
has  sprung  from  human  weakness  and  human 
pride,  to  imagine  that  such  an  infinite  spirit 
would  concern  himself  with  the  petty  affairs  of 
men.  It  is  difficult  to  say,  whether  it  might 
not  be  better  for  men  to  be  wholly  without 
religion,  than  to  have  one  of  this  kind,  which 
is  a  reproach  to  its  object.  The  vanity  of  man, 
and  his  insatiable  longing  after  existence,  have 
led  him  also  to  dream  of  a  life  after  death.  A 
being  full  of  contradictions,  he  is  the  most 
wretched  of  creatures;  since  the  other  creatures 
have  no  wants  transcending  the  bounds  of 
their  nature.  Man  is  full  of  desires  and  wants 
that  reach  to  infinity,  and  can  never  be  satis- 

93 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

fied.  His  nature  is  a  lie,  uniting  the  greatest 
poverty  with  the  greatest  pride.  Among  these 
so  great  evils,  the  best  thing  God  has  be- 
stowed on  man  is  the  power  to  take  his  own 
life." 

In  Rome,  devotion  to  the  state,  to  the 
public  good,  was  the  atmosphere  which  men 
breathed.  Mommsen  remarks,  that  the  Roman 
religion  in  all  its  details  was  a  reflection  of 
the  Roman  state.  When  the  constitution  and 
institutions  of  Rome  changed,  their  religion 
changed  with  them.  In  time  the  state  religion 
became  undermined  by  philosophy,  and  it  fell 
more  and  more  into  a  decline.  Much  greater 
weight  was  paid  to  the  punctilious  perform- 
ance of  religious  obligations,  than  to  any  be- 
lief in  the  doctrines  of  religion.  The  priests 
had  never  been  the  social  moralists  of  Rome; 
preaching  and  catechizing  were  unheard  of; 
and  the  highest  functionaries  of  religion  might 
be  and  sometimes  were  men  of  scandalous  life 
and  notorious  unbelief.  Those  who  desire  to 
study  closely  the  moral  infamy,  have  only  to 
read  the  pages  of  Juvenal,  the  Tacitus  of 
private  life,  or  Suetonius,  or  Ovid.  "It  is  not 

94 


ROMAN  STOICISM 

more  than  thirty  days,"  writes  Martial,  "and 
Thelesina  is  marrying  her  tenth  husband." 
Seneca  asks,  "Will  any  woman  blush  at  di- 
vorce when  some  who  are  illustrious,  and  of 
rank,  count  their  years,  not  by  their  consul- 
ships, but  by  the  number  of  their  husbands?' 
The   Epicurean  school  of  philosophy  ap- 
pealed strongly  to  the  luxurious,  the  fashion- 
able, the  worldly,  and  it  exercised  upon  them  a 
feeble  restraining  influence.    The  Epicureans 
were  the  patrons  of  the  circus,  and  the  theatre, 
and  the  banquet,  and,  indeed,  of  all  the  vanities 
and  follies  which  disgraced  the  latter  days  of 
Rome.    Epicurus  placed  the  highest  good  in 
happiness,  or  a  happy  life.   More  closely  he 
makes  pleasure  to  be  the  principal  constituent 
of  happiness,  and  even   calls  it  the   highest 
good.    One  of  the   chief  and  highest  pleas- 
ures of  life  Epicurus  found  in  the  possession 
of  friends,  who  provided  for  each  other  not 
only  help  and  protection,  but  a  lifelong  joy. 
By  the  word    pleasure   the    Epicureans  did 
not  understand  what  was  profligate  and  really 
sensual,  but    that    state  of  body   and  mind 
which  might  be  called  tranquillity,  freedom 

95 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN   STOICISM 

from  disturbance  and  care.  But  self-love  was 
the  foundation  of  all  action,  and  self-indul- 
gence was  the  ultimate  good.  It  is  a  man's 
duty  to  endeavor  to  increase  to  the  utmost  his 
pleasures,  and  diminish  to  the  utmost  his 
pain.  Epicurus  denied  the  providence  of 
God;  he  maintained  that  the  world  was  gov- 
erned by  chance;  he  denied  the  existence  of 
moral  goodness;  he  affirmed  that  the  soul 
was  mortal,  and  that  pleasure  was  the  only 
good.  Says  Ferguson,1  "the  ordinary  lan- 
guage of  this  sect,  representing  virtue  as  a 
mere  prudent  choice  among  the  pleasures  to 
which  men  are  variously  addicted,  served 
to  suppress  the  specific  sentiments  of  con- 
science and  elevation  of  mind,  and  to  change 
the  reproaches  of  criminality,  profligacy,  or 
vileness,  by  which  even  bad  men  are  restrained 
from  iniquity,  into  mere  imputations  of  mis- 
take, or  variations  of  taste." 

The  influence  of  such  a  philosophy  could 
have  but  one  effect.  The  accumulation  of 
power  and  wealth  gave  rise  to  universal  de- 
pravity. Law  ceased  to  be  of  any  value.  The 

1  History  of  the  Roman  Republic,  ch.  iv. 

96 


ROMAN  STOICISM 

social  fabric  was  a  festering  mass  of  rotten- 
ness. The  higher  classes  on  all  sides  exhibited 
a  total  extinction  of  moral  principle;  the 
lower  were  practical  atheists.  Says  Tacitus:  — 
"The  holy  ceremonies  of  religion  were 
violated ;  adultery  reigned  without  control ; 
the  adjacent  islands  filled  with  exiles  ;  rocks 
and  desert  places  stained  with  clandestine 
murders,  and  Rome  itself  a  theatre  of  hor- 
rors, where  nobility  of  descent  and  splendor 
of  fortune  marked  men  out  for  destruction; 
where  the  vigor  of  mind  that  aimed  at  civil 
dignities,  and  the  modesty  that  declined 
them,  were  offenses  without  distinction; 
where  virtue  was  a  crime  that  led  to  certain 
ruin;  where  the  guilt  of  informers  and  the 
wages  of  their  iniquity  were  alike  detestable  ; 
where  the  sacerdotal  order,  the  consular  dig- 
nity, the  government  of  provinces,  and  even 
the  cabinet  of  the  prince,  were  seized  by  that 
execrable  race  as  their  lawful  prey ;  where 
nothing  was  sacred,  nothing  safe  from  the 
hand  of  rapacity;  where  slaves  were  sub- 
orned, or  by  their  own  malevolence  excited 
against  their  masters ;  where  freemen  betrayed 

97 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN   STOICISM 

their  patrons,  and  he  who  had  lived  without 
an  enemy  died  by  the  treachery  of  a  friend." 
In  this  very  corrupt  age,  Stoicism  was  the 
philosophy  congenial  to  the  Roman  type. 
The  emphasis  it  laid  upon  morals,  the  firm- 
ness and  austerity  of  its  code,  the  stern  repu- 
diation of  emotional  considerations  or  im- 
pulses, all  commended  itself  to  many  noble 
and  powerful  minds,  because  it  raised  them 
above  the  corruption  around  them,  and  pro- 
claimed an  ideal  standard  of  morality,  and 
the  Stoics  rallied  to  themselves  all  the  noble 
souls  who  desired  to  rise  above  the  fearful 
moral  degradation  of  imperial  Rome.  The 
practical-minded  Roman  did  not  appreciate 
the  deep  speculations  of  many  of  the  philos- 
ophers of  the  day,  but  he  easily  appreciated 
the  Stoical  principles  of  self-control,  moral 
energy,  and  philosophic  indifference  to  wealth 
and  pleasure,  and  thus  the  leaven  of  Stoicism 
soon  began  to  work  among  the  social  circles 
of  the  capital,  and  furnished  strength  and 
solace  in  the  darkest  hours  of  the  troubled 
times.  Stoicism  enlarged  the  minds  of  its 
worthy  votaries  by  purer  conceptions  of 

98 


ROMAN  STOICISM 

Deity,  and  more  literal  views  of  humanity, 
teaching  the  unity  of  God  with  man,  and 
man  with  one  another.  Says  Montesquieu, 
"The  sect  of  the  Stoics  spread  and  gained 
credit  in  the  empire.  It  seemed  as  if  human 
nature  had  made  an  effort  to  produce  from 
itself  this  admirable  sect,  which  was  like 
plants  growing  in  places  which  the  sun  had 
never  seen.  The  Romans  owed  to  it  their  best, 
emperors." 

The  Stoics  maintained,  almost  in  every 
particular,  the  reverse  of  the  tenets  of  the 
Epicureans.  They  maintained  the  reality  of 
Providence,  and  of  a  common  interest  of  good- 
ness and  justice  ;  for  which  Providence  was 
exerted,  and  in  which  all  rational  creatures 
were  concerned.  Roman  Stoicism  placed  a  firm 
reliance  in  the  moral  energy  of  man,  teaching 
the  necessity  of  dispensing  with,  and  the  ab- 
solute worthlessness  of  external  advantages  ; 
referring  all  truth  to  the  sensuous  presentation, 
and  recommending  in  all  things,  resignation 
to  the  divine  dispensations.  The  more  serious 
minded  turned  to  some  moralist  for  consola- 
tion, from  a  desire  to  find  something  better 

99 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

and  more  satisfying  to  the  nature  of  man  than 
could  be  found  in  the  religions  and  mytholo- 
gies of  Greece  and  Rome.  Philosophy  aspired 
not  only  to  furnish  struggling  men  with  an 
authoritative  standard,  but  to  guide  and  help 
and  strengthen  them  in  their  efforts  to  attain 
it.  Says  Plutarch  :  — 

"  As  exercise  and  medicine  provide  for  the 
body's  health  and  strength,  so  philosophy 
alone  can  cure  the  weakness  or  the  sickness 
of  the  soul.  By  her  help  man  learns  to  dis- 
tinguish the  noble  from  the  base,  the  just  from 
the  unjust,  the  things  worthy  of  our  choice 
from  those  which  we  should  shun ;  she  teaches 
him  how  he  ought  to  act  in  all  the  relations 
of  his  social  life,  warning  him  to  fear  the  gods, 
honor  his  parents,  respect  old  age,  obey  the 
laws,  submit  to  governors,  be  loving  to  his 
friends,  show  self-control  with  womankind, 
tenderness  with  children,  moderation  with  his 
slaves  —  above  all,  not  to  triumph  overmuch 
in  prosperous  days,  or  to  be  cast  down  in  ad- 
versity, not  to  be  overmastered  by  pleasure, 
or  brutalized  by  passion/' l 

1  De  Educ.  Puer.,  cp.   10. 

loo 


ROMAN  STOICISM 

The  precepts  of  the  Stoics,  addressed  to  the 
ruling  classes  of  the  empire,  stood  forth  in 
bold  and  startling  hostility  to  the  principles 
of  existing  authority,  and  it  therefore  at  first 
met  with  the  jealousy  of  the  national  author- 
ities, but  it  soon  found  a  ready  acceptance, 
and  made  rapid  progress  among  the  noblest 
families.  The  government  heretofore  had  suf- 
fered the  philosophers  to  teach  as  they  pleased, 
and  put  no  restraints  on  the  spirit  of  inquiry 
which  was  sapping  the  positive  beliefs  of  the 
day.  But  Stoicism  gave  rise  to  a  new  state 
philosophy  and  state  religion,  owing  to  the 
blending  of  the  Stoic  philosophy  and  the 
Roman  religion.  The  speculative  element 
was  weakened,  but  the  Stoic  philosophy  was 
raised  into  the  semi-official  state  philosophy. 
This  philosophy  was  undoubtedly  better 
adapted  for  Rome  than  for  the  land  where 
it  first  arose,  and  we  meet  with  its  traces  in 
the  most  diversified  spheres  of  action.  Its 
theories  of  order  and  providence  were  emi- 
nently suited  to  a  law-making  and  an  organ- 
izing race.  But  in  process  of  time  the  unbend^* 
ing  strictness  of  the  old  Stoicism  began  to  a 

101 


GBEEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

certain  extent  to  be  relaxed,  and  many  of  the 
rigorous  definitions  and  maxims  were  toned 
down,  and  given  more  warmth  and  color  to 
meet  the  demands  of  the  Roman  people. 
Stoicism  attached  itself  to  the  religion  of  Rome 
as  closely  as  science  can  at  all  accommodate 
itself  to  faith.  Its  adaptations  to  the  purposes 
of  civil  polity,  and  its  stern  moral  doctrine 
seemed  to  appeal  to  the  Romans,  and  it  con- 
tinued to  flourish  after  the  reign  of  the  An- 
tonines,  at  which  time  the  Stoics  were  flourish- 
ing at  Athens,  Alexandria  and  Tarsus,  and  in 
the  time  of  Juvenal  this  sect  prevailed  almost 
through  the  whole  Roman  empire. 

Lorimer,  speaking  of  Stoicism,  says  :  — 
"With  the  single  exception  of  Christianity,  no 
form  of  belief  ever  took  possession  of  so  great 
a  number  of  Europeans,  and  held  it  so  long; 
and  it  moulded  human  institutions  and  af- 
fected human  destiny  to  a  greater  extent  than 
all  other  philosophical  systems,  either  of  the 
ancient  or  the  modern  world."  ' 

1  Institutes  of  Law,  p.   1 6 1 , 


102 


VII 
ROMAN   JURISPRUDENCE 

THE  Stoics  taught  that  all  things  in  nature 
came  about  by  virtue  of  a  natural  and  un- 
changeable connection  of  cause  and  effect, 
as  the  nature  of  the  universe  and  the  general 
law  require.  They  were  therefore  strenuous 
in  their  teaching  of  the  unconditional  depend- 
ence of  everything  on  a  universal  law  and 
the  course  of  the  universe.  The  Grecian  phi- 
losophers had  long  ago  insisted  on  a  law 
of  nature,  distinct  from  the  conventional 
usages  of  different  lands  and  ages,  consisting 
of  those  laws  which  are  common  to  all  man- 
kind, and  are  supposed  to  be,  as  nearly  as 
can  be  conjectured,  independent  of  the  acci- 
dents of  time  and  place.  The  Stoics  laid  a 
special  emphasis  upon  it,  and  made  it  the 
keynote  of  their  moral  system,  as  a  guide  to 
theory  and  a  rule  for  practice  in  all  the  de- 
partments of  man's  action.  They  considered 

103 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

that  law  embodied  rights,  duties  and  rules  of 
conduct  evolved  primarily  by  social  life  and 
intercourse.  Hence  the  social  instinct  is  a 
primary  instinct  in  man,  every  manifestation 
of  which  contributes,  either  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, to  the  good  of  the  whole. 

Marcus  Aurelius  wrote,  that  the  passion  of 
reason  is  love  of  society.  Rational  beings  can 
only  be  treated  on  a  social  footing,  and  can 
only  feel  happy  themselves  when  working  for 
the  community  ;  for  all  rational  beings  are  re- 
lated to  one  another,  all  from  one  social  unit, 
of  which  each  individual  is  an  integral  part ; 
one  body,  of  which  every  individual  is  an 
organic  member.  Cicero,  though  attached  to 
the  speculative  doctrines  of  the  New  Academy, 
accepted  with  little  change  the  ethical  princi- 
ples of  the  Stoics.  He  says,  that  in  no  kind 
of  discussion  can  it  be  more  advantageously 
displayed  how  much  has  been  bestowed  upon 
man  by  nature,  and  how  great  a  capacity  for 
the  noblest  enterprises  is  implanted  in  the 
mind  of  man,  for  the  sake  of  cultivating  and 
perfecting  which  we  were  born  and  sent  into 
the  world,  and  what  beautiful  association, 

104 


ROMAN  JURISPRUDENCE 

what  natural  fellowship,  binds  men  together 
by  reciprocal  charities  ;  and  when  we  have  ex- 
plained these  grand  and  universal  principles 
of  morals,  then  the  true  fountain  of  laws  and 
rights  can  be  discovered.1  Cicero  instructs,  in 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  perfect  ethical 
codes  to  be  met  with  among  ancient  writers,  / 

the  virtues  of  humanity,  liberality,  and  justice 
toward  other  people,  as  being  founded  on  the 
universal  law  of  nature. 

Two  fundamental  points  are  insisted  on  by 
the  Stoics  —  the  duty  of  justice  and  the  duty 
of  mercy,  and  the  later  Stoics,  Seneca,  Epic- 
tetus,  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  Musonius,  em- 
phasized the  most  extended  and  unreserved 
charity,  beneficence,  gentleness,  meekness,  an 
unlimited  benevolence,  and  a  readiness  to  for- 
give in  all  cases  in  which  forgiveness  is  possi- 
ble. 

A  philosophy  so  vigorous  and  elevating 
had  a  great  influence  in  moulding  the  opinions 
of  all  those  persons  who  were  brought  under 
its  influence,  and  its  general  spirit  and  method 
had  a  marked  influence  upon  Roman  juris- 

1  De  Legibus,  iv. 

105 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

prudence,  which  in  its  turn  has  exerted  its  in- 
fluence over  all  Eastern  legislation,  and  still 
exists  and  is  obeyed  and  consulted  among 
most  of  the  nations  of  modern  times.  The 
great  jurists  of  Rome  were  familiar  with  the 
Stoic  philosophy,  as  it  was  an  important  ele- 
ment in  Roman  education  and  culture,  and 
received  the  almost  uninterrupted  support  of 
the  state  during  the  period  in  which  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Roman  jurisconsults  was  most 
marked.  They  saw  in  the  law  of  nature  an 
ideal  of  simplicity  and  universal  truth  for  the 
legal  student  and  reformer,  and  its  general 
spirit  and  method  affected  the  jurisprudence 
of  Rome  rather  than  any  one  doctrine  that 
Stoicism  taught. 

An  innate  genius  for  law  distinguished  the 
Roman  people.  The  science  of  jurisprudence 
was  to  them  the  intellectual  life  that  the  older 
philosophy  was  to  the  Greek.  They  took 
great  pride  in  building  up  their  system  of 
law  upon  a  firm  foundation  ;  they  were  the 
rational  laws  of  life,  to  which  a  man  must 
conform.  They  embodied  in  their  very  begin- 
ning the  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  Stoics,  to 

1 06 


ROMAN  JURISPRUDENCE 

live  according  to  nature.  It  taught  that  there 
was  a  nature  to  which  everything  should  con- 
form ;  there  was  a  nature  of  man,  a  nature  of 
the  society  in  which  man  lived,  and  a  nature 
of  the  world  as  a  whole.  With  the  Stoics,  the 
universe  was  considered  as  imbued  with  an 
all-pervading  soul  or  power,  which  was  looked 
upon  not  only  as  a  dynamical  force  produ- 
cing motion,  but  as  a  rational  principle  pro- 
ducing order  and  perfection.  This  rational 
principle  is  a  constituent  element  of  all  being. 
Therefore  laws  were  required  as  the  expression 
of  a  divine  intelligence,  and  therefore  exter- 
nally binding. 

In  their  writings  and  precepts,  the  Stoics 
paid  great  attention  to  the  state  and  the  do- 
mestic life.  In  marriage  they  required  chastity 
and  moderation.  Love  was  to  be  a  matter  of 
reason,  not  of  emotion,  not  a  yielding  to 
personal  attractions,  nor  a  seeking  of  sensual 
gratification.  But  it  was  to  the  state  that  the 
Stoics  were  the  most  strenuous.  If  man  is  in- 
tended to  associate  with  his  fellow  men  in  a 
society  regulated  by  justice  and  law,  how  can 
he  withdraw  from  the  most  common  institu- 

107 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

tion  —  the  state?  If  laws  further  the  well- 
being  and  security  of  the  citizens,  if  they 
advance  virtue  and  happiness,  how  can  the 
wise  man  fail  to  regard  them  as  beautiful 
and  praiseworthy? 

The  status  of  an  individual  was  a  strong 
point  in  Roman  law.  By  the  status  (or  stand- 
ing) of  a  person  is  meant  the  position  that  he 
holds  with  reference  to  the  rights  which  are 
recognized  and  maintained  by  the  law  —  in 
other  words,  his  capacity  for  the  exercise  and 
enjoyment  of  legal  rights.  This  capacity  the 
Roman  jurists,  who  had  a  highly  developed 
doctrine  of  status,  represented  as  depending 
on  three  conditions,  libertas  (or  personal  free- 
dom), civitas  (or  citizenship),  zndfamilia  (or 
family  relation).  This  citizenship  affected 
every  relation  of  life.  In  daily  business,  in  the 
payment  of  taxes,  in  the  making  of  contracts, 
in  the  details  of  common  domestic  life,  in 
the  disposing  of  property  by  will,  or  in  the 
succeeding  to  inheritances,  the  Roman  was 
continually  reminded  of  his  status,  which 
differentiated  him  from  all  who  were  not  en- 
franchised. 

1 08 


ROMAN  JURISPRUDENCE 

The  Roman  jurists  derived  from  Stoicism 
their  ideas  of  the  fundamental  principles  ac- 
cording to  which  human  conduct  should  be 
shaped,  and  it  was  owing  to  their  conception 
of  the  Stoic  laws  of  nature  that  they  were  led  to 
change  the  jus  gentium  and  bring  it  into  har- 
mony with  the  new  theory  of  natural  law. 
This  became  the  jus  naturale,  or  that  law 
which  springs  from  the  universal  nature  of 
man  and  the  conditions  of  human  life  and 
society,  instead  of  being  the  product  of  local, 
temporary,  accidental,  and  variable  causes. 
Says  Lee:  — 

"  By  connecting  the  basis  of  jurisprudence 
with  the  eternal  order  of  things  through  the 
conception  of  &jus  naturale,  a  scientific  foun- 
dation was  given  to  the  study  of  law.  It  was 
no  longer  an  empirical  study.  It  comprised 
more  than  a  mere  knowledge  of  the  law  of 
any  one  age.  It  was  the  investigation  of  the 
fundamental  principles  underlying  the  law  of 
all  ages.  The  lawyer  investigated  the  mean- 
ing of  the  various  terms  with  which  he  dealt. 
He  sought  to  express  by  careful  definitions 
the  exact  nature  of  the  concepts  which  en- 

109 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

tered  into  the  law.  He  traced  the  principles  in- 
volved in  the  processes  of  law,  and  expressed 
them  in  terse  maxims.  All  this  he  did  with 
the  conviction  that  in  this  logical  analysis  he 
was  attaining  to  a  real  knowledge,  not  merely 
a  convenient  summary  of  human  conventions. 
But  the  scientific  study  of  law  by  analysis  of 
the  legal  conceptions  and  processes  could  not 
stop  with  the  results  of  that  analysis.  If  in 
every  generalization  the  jurist  came  nearer  to 
the  real  nature  of  things,  he  could  also  reverse 
the  process ;  he  could  apply  the  generaliza- 
tion to  the  practical  cases  which  every  day 
came  to  his  notice.  By  the  study  of  its  foun- 
dations law  was  stripped  of  adventitious  mat- 
ter and  seen  to  be  more  comprehensive  and 
more  widely  applicable/'1 

'Lee,  Historical  Jurisprudence,  p.  258. 


1 10 


VIII 
RELATION    TO    CHRISTIANITY 

DR.  CAIRO  has  said,  that  it  was  from  Greece 
that  the  early  fathers  of  the  Christian  church 
borrowed  its  forms  and  processes  of  thought, 
the  general  conceptions  of  nature  and  human 
life,  of,  in  short,  the  general  points  of  view  or 
mental  presuppositions  which  they  brought  to 
the  interpretation  of  the  facts  of  Christianity. 
A  very  large  portion  of  what  we  call  Christian 
theology  is  Greek  philosophy  in  a  new  appli- 
cation. It  was  not  until  Judaism  had  come 
into  wide  and  permanent  contact  with  Hel- 
lenic culture,  and  had  been  fertilized  by  it  in 
many  ways,  that  Christianity  could  be  devel- 
oped from  it. 

If  we  examine  closely  the  background  upon 
which  the  structure  of  Christianity  was  erected, 
we  shall  find  serious  thought,  vigorous  life, 
and  genuine  piety.  The  rapid  and  powerful 
process  of  organization  in  Christianity  itself 

1 1 1 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

would  not  have  been  possible,  were  it  not  for 
the  independent  efforts  of  paganism  after  a 
similar  ideal.  If  Christianity  triumphed  in  the 
end,  it  was  by  virtue  of  a  very  wide  sympathy 
and  a  very  extensive  preparation  in  the  mind 
of  paganism.  Says  St.  Augustine,  "The  very 
same  thing  which  now  is  called  Christianity 
existed  among  the  ancients  and  was  not  absent 
from  the  beginning  of  mankind  until  Christ 
appeared  in  the  flesh,  whence  the  true  religion, 
which  already  existed,  began  to  be  called  Chris- 
tian/' ' 

The  second  Greek  religion  which  arose  un- 
der the  influence  of  philosophy  and  found  its 
way  wherever  Greek  culture  spread,  is  con- 
sidered by  Menzies2  to  have  been  a  prepara- 
tion for  the  the  coming  of  Christianity  in  the 
Greek  world,  without  which  its  spread  must 
have  been  much  more  doubtful.  Says  Men- 
zies: — 

"In  the    Grseco-Roman  religion   the  ad- 

1  Ipse  res  quae  nunc  Christiana  religio  nuncupatur,  erat 
apud  antiques  nee  defuit  ab  initio  generis  humani,  quousque 
ipse  Christus  venerit  in  carne,  unde  vera  religio  quae  jam 
erat,  coepit  appelari    Christiana.      Retr.,  i,   13. 

2  History  of  Religion,  p.  420. 

I  12 


RELATION  TO  CHRISTIANITY 

vances  which  appear  in  Christianity  are  already 
prefigured.  Thought  has  been  busy  in  build- 
ing up  a  great  doctrine  of  God,  such  a  God 
as  human  reason  can  arrive  at,  a  Being  infi- 
nitely wise  and  good,  who  is  the  first  cause 
and  the  hidden  ground  of  all  things,  the  sun 
of  all  wisdom,  beauty,  and  goodness,  and  in 
whom  all  men  alike  may  trust.  Greek  thought 
also  found  much  occupation  in  the  attempt 
to  reach  a  true  account  of  man's  moral  nature 
and  destiny.  Both  in  theory  and  in  practice 
many  an  attempt  was  made  to  build  up  the 
ideal  life  of  man,  and  thus  many  minds  were 
prepared  for  a  religion  which  places  the  riches 
of  the  inner  life  above  all  others.  The  Greek 
philosopher's  school  was  a  semi-religious 
union,  the  central  point  of  which  was,  as  is  the 
case  with  Christianity  also,  not  outward  sac- 
rifice but  mental  activity.  It  is  not  wonderful, 
therefore,  if  Christian  institutions  were  assim- 
ilated to  some  extent  to  the  Greek  schools. 
It  has  recently  been  shown  that  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Eucharist  came  very  near  to  bear  a 
close  resemblance  to  that  of  a  Greek  mystery, 
and  that  there  is  an  unbroken  line  of  connec- 

"3 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

tion  between  the  discourse  of  the  Greek  phi- 
losopher and  the  Christian  sermon.  In  some  of 
the  Greek  schools  pastoral  visitation  was  prac- 
tised, and  the  preacher  kept  up  an  oversight 
of  the  moral  conduct  of  his  adherents.  While 
Christianity  certainly  had  vigour  enough  to 
shape  its  own  institutions,  and  may  even  be 
seen  to  be  doing  so  in  some  of  the  books  of 
the  New  Testament,  the  agreement  between 
Greek  and  Christian  practices  amounts  to 
something  more  than  coincidences." 

The  thoughtful  student  may  find  many 
points  of  likeness  in  which  the  Christian  the- 
ology and  morals  may  have  been  indebted  to 
the  doctrines  of  the  Stoics.  The  Stoics,  as  we 
have  seen,  placed  value  upon  moral  senti- 
ments, virtue,  and  wisdom.  In  common  with 
Paul  they  could  not  paint  in  colors  too  glar- 
ing the  universal  depravity  of  mankind.  They 
classed  mankind  as  wise  men  and  fools,  and 
taught  a  "  birth-day  of  eternity  '  which  they 
called  the  day  of  death,  in  deliverance  from 
the  bondage  of  the  flesh,  the  entrance  on  "  the 
great  eternal  peace."  We  see  here  an  affinity 
with  Paul's  teachings,  who  divided  mankind 

114 


RELATION  TO  CHRISTIANITY 

into  the  regenerate  and  the  degenerate  ;  they 
looked  beyond  this  world  to  the  glories  of 
heaven,  and  he  placed  value  upon  faith  alone. 
Stoicism  lacked,  however,  what  we  may  call 
Paul's  method  of  salvation,  of  which  the  car- 
dinal points  are  conviction  of  sin,  and  salva- 
tion by  faith.  There  are  many  points  in  Stoi- 
cism which  harmonize  with  the  doctrine  of 
Christ.  But  Christ  taught,  however,  that  a 
true  spiritual  condition  is  attainable,  not  by 
unaided  individual  will,  but  by  the  help  of 
the  Divine  Spirit,  and  that  inexorable  fate  is 
not  the  ruling  power  of  the  universe. 

"  It  is  difficult,"  says  Lightfoot,  "  to  esti- 
mate, and  perhaps  not  very  easy  to  over-rate 
the  extent  to  which  Stoic  philosophy  had 
leavened  the  moral  vocabulary  of  the  civil- 
ized world  at  the  time  of  the  Christian  era." 
And  he  refers  to  conscience  (conscientia),  "  the 
most  important  of  moral  terms,  the  crowning 
triumph  of  ethical  nomenclature  ...  if  not 
struck  in  the  mint  of  the  Stoics,  at  all  events 
became  current  coin  through  their  influence." 
To  a  great  extent,  therefore,  the  general  dif- 
fusion of  Stoic  language  would  lead  to  its 


1 1 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

adoption  by  the  first  teachers  of  Christianity. 
Vignoli x  has  shown  that  when  Christianity 
began,  pagan  rationalism  had  arrived  at  the 
idea  of  a  spiritual  and  directing  power,  origi- 
nally identical  with  the  universe.  It  was 
neither  the  Olympus  of  the  common  people, 
nor  the  Semitic  Jehovah,  but  rather  the  con- 
scious and  inevitable  order  of  nature.  Says 
Vignoli :  — 

"  Christianity  proclaimed  the  spiritual  unity 
of  God,  the  unity  of  the  race,  the  brother- 
hood of  all  peoples,  the  redemption  of  the 
world,  and  consequently  a  providential  influ- 
ence on  mankind.  Christianity  taught  that 
God  himself  was  made  man,  and  lived  among 
men.  Such  teaching  was  offered  to  the  people 
as  a  truth  of  consciousness  rather  than  a  dog- 
ma, although  it  was  afterwards  preserved  in 
a  theological  form  by  the  preaching  of  Paul, 
and  the  pagan  mind  was  more  affected  by 
sentiment  than  by  reason.  The  unity  of  God 
was  associated  in  their  aesthetic  imagination 
with  the  earlier  conception  of  the  supreme 
Zeus,  which  now  took  a  more  Semitic  form, 

1  Myths  and  Science,  p.   184. 

116 


RELATION  TO  CHRISTIANITY 

and  Olympus  was  gloriously  transformed 
into  a  company  of  elect  Christians  and  holy 
fathers  of  the  new  faith.  A  confused  senti- 
ment as  to  the  mystic  union  of  peoples,  who 
became  brothers  in  Christ,  had  a  powerful 
effect  on  the  imagination  and  the  heart,  since 
they  had  already  learned  to  regard  the  world 
as  the  creation  of  one  eternal  Being.  In  the 
ardor  of  proselytism  and  of  the  diffusion  of 
the  new  creed,  they  hailed  the  historical  trans- 
formation of  the  earthly  endeavour  after 
temporal  acquisitions  and  pleasures  into  a 
providential  preparation  for  the  heavenly 
kingdom/' 

It  very  early  resulted  that  Christianity  came 
in  contact  with  the  contemporaneous  philoso- 
phy. Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  and  others, 
were  working  at  the  same  problem  which  oc- 
cupied the  prophets  of  Israel,  and  in  many 
ways  the  schools  of  Greece  were  the  forerun- 
ners of  Christianity.  Some  of  the  early  fathers 
recognized  a  Christian  element  in  Plato,  and 
they  sought  to  explain  the  striking  resem- 
blance between  the  doctrines  of  Plato  and 
those  of  Christianity.  Justin  was,  as  he  him- 

117 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

self  relates,  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Plato 
before  he  found  in  the  Gospel  that  full  satis- 
faction which  he  had  sought  earnestly,  but  in 
vain,  in  philosophy.  And,  although  the  Gos- 
pel stood  infinitely  higher  in  his  view  than 
the  Platonic  philosophy,  yet  he  regarded  the 
latter  as  a  preliminary  stage  to  the  former. 
Justin  was  successively,  as  he  says  in  his 
Dialogues,  a  Stoic,  a  Peripatetic,  a  Pythago- 
rean, and  a  follower  of  Plato,  and  hoped  to 
have  finally  reached  the  goal  of  intellectual 
contentment  in  the  Platonic  philosophy. 

Clement  of  Alexandria  tried  to  harmonize 
Greek  philosophy  and  Christianity,  an  inde- 
pendent reason,  and  an  authority  based  on 
tradition.  He  says: — "I  give  the  name  phi- 
losophy to  that  which  is  really  excellent  in  all 
the  doctrines  of  the  Greek  philosophers,  and 
above  all  to  that  of  Socrates,  such  as  Plato 
describes  him  to  have  been.  The  opinion  of 
Plato  upon  ideas  is  the  true  Christian  and  or- 
thodox philosophy.  These  intellectual  lights 
among  the  Greeks  have  been  communicated 
by  God  himself." 

Origen  was  a  student  of  the  doctrines  of 

118 


RELATION  TO  CHRISTIANITY 

Plato,  Pythagoras,  and  the  Stoics,  and  in  his 
Stromata  he  compares  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity with  the  teachings  of  the  philosophers, 
particularly  those  of  Plato,  confirming  the 
former  by  the  latter.  Many  of  the  Greek 
Fathers  strove  to  base  their  apologetics  upon 
the  theism  and  ethics  of  Plato,  and  even  to 
court  the  mysteries  of  the  trinity,  the  incar- 
nation, and  the  atonement,  in  terms  of  Pla- 
tonic metaphysics. 

It  was  at  Alexandria  that  Greek  and  Roman 
philosophy  and  Jewish  religion,  and  Oriental 
mysticism  met  each  other  face  to  face,  and 
were  all  struggling  for  preeminence  and  mutu- 
ally influencing  each  other.  All  the  previous 
systems  were  struggling  together,  but  with  no 
satisfactory  result  from  the  conflict.  Nothing 
was  settled,  every  one  was  groping,  no  one 
was  recognized  as  "one  having  authority." 
One  attempt  to  mediate  between  these  con- 
trasts was  made  from  the  Jewish  side  by  Philo 
the  Jew.  In  harmony  with  the  ideas  of  his 
nation  he  derived  all  philosophy  and  useful 
knowledge  from  the  Mosaic  record.  His 
power  of  appreciating  and  assimilating  Greek 

119 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

conceptions  is  admirable,  but  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  wrest  Scripture  to  his  use  by  various 
allegorical  interpretations,  asserting  that  man 
had  fallen  from  his  primitive  wisdom  and 
purity;  that  physical  inquiry  was  of  very  little 
avail,  but  that  an  innocent  life  and  burning 
faith  are  what  we  must  trust  to.  In  this  re- 
spect he  followed  the  Stoics,  who  liked  to 
dissolve  the  Greek  myths  into  abstract  ideas, 
to  reduce  to  simple  observations  the  images 
and  personifications  contained  in  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  popular  religion ;  and  the  method 
they  employed  was  the  allegory.  The  attempt 
of  Philo  at  a  combination  of  Greek  and  He- 
brew wisdom,  was  a  process  of  assimilation  of 
these  two  elements,  which  had  gone  on  for  a 
long  time  at  Alexandria.  It  may  be  traced 
back  even  to  the  translators  of  the  Septua- 
gint.  The  influence  of  Greek  thought  on  the 
minds  of  the  translators  of  the  Septuagint  is 
often  seen,  by  the  suggestion  for  a  Platonic  in- 
terpretation. The  Platonism  of  this  period, 
however,  was  not  so  much  a  regularly  consti- 
tuted school  as  a  pervading  influence  which 
had  impressed  certain  of  its  tendencies,  more 


1 20 


RELATION  TO  CHRISTIANITY 

or  less  strongly,  upon  most  of  the  religious 
and  philosophic  speculations  of  the  time. 

Another  attempt  to  mediate  between  Greek 
philosophy  and  Judaism  was  made  from  the 
Greek  side  by  the  Neo-Platonists.  It  was  the 
last  form  of  philosophy  which  the  Greek  civ- 
ilization developed,  and  stood  in  a  curious 
relation  to  Christianity,  alternately  attracting 
and  repulsing  it.  Their  expositions  of  the  re- 
lations between  God  and  the  world,  the  divine 
and  human,  spirit  and  matter,  are  often  in- 
genious. But  in  their  speculations  that  which 
is  specifically  Greek  is  lost. 

This  new  philosophy  may  more  properly 
be  called  a  theosophy,  although  it  also  in- 
clined towards  dogmatism,  mysticism,  asceti- 
cism, and  even  thaujmaturgy^.  Although  firmly 
planted  on  the  basis  of  the  preceding  Greek 
philosophy,  it  may  be  considered  a  new  mani- 
festation of  the  genuine  creative  power  of  the 
Greek  spirit.  It  attained  its  highest  principle, 
from  which  all  the  rest  was  derived,  by  means 
of  ecstacy,  by  a  mystical  self-destruction  of 
the  individual  person.  They  considered  the 
spiritual  knowledge  of  religion  to  be  attain- 


121 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

able  only  by  the  philosophers,  who  lived  in 
contemplation.  The  new  Platonists  took 
some  of  the  more  popular  and  especially 
Oriental  conceptions  of  Plato,  and  by  an  artful 
admixture  of  truth  and  falsehood,  they  com- 
bined many  superstitions  into  their  system. 
The  doctrine  of  Plato  was  fused  with  the  most 
important  elements  in  the  Aristotelian  and 
Stoic  systems  and  with  Oriental  speculations. 
Platonism  awakened  an  indefinite  desire 
after  the  supernatural,  and  after  a  communion 
with  the  invisible  world,  which  itwas  unable  to 
satisfy.  In  fact,  as  Hegel  says,  "  the  peculiarity 
of  the  Platonic  philosophy  is  precisely  this 
direction  towards  the  supersensuous  world, 
— it  seeks  the  elevation  of  consciousness  into 
the  realm  of  spirit.  The  Christian  religion 
has  also  set  up  this  high  principle,  that  the 
internal  spiritual  essence  of  man  is  his  true 
essence,  and  has  made  it  the  universal  prin- 
ciple/' In  the  course  of  time,  it  was  through 
the  source  of  the  Neo-Platonists  that  errors 
and  corruptions  crept  into  the  church,  but  it 
also  from  the  same  source  received  no  small 
addition,  both  to  its  numbers  and  its  strength. 

I  22 


RELATION  TO  CHRISTIANITY 

Says  Santayana,1  "  Neo-Platonism  respond- 
ed as  well  as  Christianity  to  the  needs  of  the 
time,  and  had  besides  great  external  advan- 
tages in  its  alliance  with  tradition,  with  civil 
power,  and  with  philosophy.  If  the  demands 
of  the  age  were  for  a  revealed  religion  and  an 
ascetic  morality,  Neo-Platonism  could  satisfy 
them  to  the  full.  .  .  .  But  the  avenues  of  ap- 
proach which  it  had  chosen  and  the  principle 
which  had  given  form  to  its  system  foreor- 
dained it  to  failure  as  a  religion.  The  avenue 
was  dialectic,  and  the  principle  the  hypostasis 
of  abstractions/' 

The  great  exponent  of  Neo-Platonism, 
Plotinus,  held  philosophy  to  consist  in  a 
mental  flight  from  this  world  to  a  higher  re- 
gion, in  becoming  "  like  God/'  an  ascent  to 
the  Idea  of  the  Good.  His  theory  was  a 
combination  of  the  theologies  of  Parmenides, 
Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle,  but  he  found 
the  germs,  at  least,  of  all  the  doctrines  in 
Plato.  After  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Julian, 
Neo-Platonism  declined  and  finally  became  a 
scholastic  tradition,  but  it  had  been  to  many 

'Interpretations  of  Poetry  and  Religion,  p.  76. 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

a  bridge,  as  Augustine  said,  which  led  them 
to  Christianity,  and  besides  this,  Neo-Pla- 
tonism  exercised  a  discernible  influence  on 
the  historical  development  of  Christianity, 
and  more  especially  on  the  mysticism  of 
Western  theology  during  the  middle  ages. 

From  the  speculative  side  of  the  church 
sprang  the  philosophical  heretics.  The  oldest 
of  these  were  the  Gnostics.  Gnostic  means 
one  that  knows,  and  the  word  seems  to  have 
been  applied  to  all  the  heretics  whose  specula- 
tions on  nature  and  being  did  not  agree  with 
the  speculations  approved  of  by  the  church. 
Gnosticism  stands  on  the  border  line  between 
the  philosophical  systems  of  Plato  and  the 
Stoics  and  the  Christian  system.  The  Gnostics 
also  drew  largely  from  Oriental  theosophy 
and  the  Jewish  religion.  They  seem,  indeed, 
to  have  been  of  every  form  of  professed  re- 
ligion, Jewish,  Christian  and  Pagan,  exalting 
their  own  doctrines  above  all.  In  fact,  Gnos- 
ticism presents  a  combination  of  Persian, 
Chaldasan,  and  Egyptian  doctrines,  united  to 
conceptions  of  Oriental  or  Hindu  origin,  and 
to  the  cabalistic  science  of  the  Jews.  The  in- 

124 


RELATION  TO  CHRISTIANITY 

fluence  of  Indian  philosophy  on  Gnosticism 
seems  undoubted.  The  Gnostic  doctrine  of 
the  opposition  between  soul  and  matter,  of 
the  personal  existence  of  intellect,  will,  and 
so  forth,  and  the  identification  of  soul  and 
light  are  derived  from  the  Sankhya  system. 
The  division,  peculiar  to  several  Gnostics,  of 
men  into  three  classes  is  also  based  on  the 
Sankhya  doctrine  cf  the  three  dunas  or  triple 
constituents  of  primeval  matter.  Again,  the 
many  heavens  of  the  Gnostics  are  evidently 
derived  from  the  fantastic  cosmogony  of  later 
Buddhism. 

In  trying  to  harmonize  Christian  revelation 
with  its  own  system  it  gave  up  the  monothe- 
ism of  the  Scriptures,  and  allegorized  away, 
in  part  or  in  whole,  the  great  facts  of  Christ's 
work  and  person.  Unlike  Greek  philoso- 
phies, however,  its  thought  was  not  methodi- 
cal, but  poetical,  and  charged  with  Oriental 
imagery  and  freedom.  The  Gnostics  consid- 
ered their  doctrines  as  superior  — 

1.  To  the  pagan  rites  and  symbols,  which 
they  professed  to  explain. 

2.  To  the   Hebrew  doctrines,  the  errors 

125 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

and  imperfections  of  which  it  pretended  to 
unfold. 

3.  To  the  common  belief  of  the  Chris- 
tian church,  which,  in  the  view  of  the  Greeks, 
was  nothing  but  the  weak  or  corrupted  en- 
velope of  the  transcendent  Christianity  of 
which  they  claimed  to  be  the  depositaries. 

Influenced  by  Greek  philosophy,  the  Gnos- 
tics represented  experimental  Christianity  as 
knowledge  rather  than  faith,  and  made  knowl- 
edge the  standard  of  the  moral  condition. 

The  influence  of  Gnosticism  was  good  in 
arousing  the  church  to  a  -clearer  definition  of 
her  fundamental  doctrines,  and  gave  her  an 
impulse  towards  thought,  and  a  more  com- 
prehensive discussion  of  doctrine. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  how  the  pagan 
Stoic  philosophy  was  revived  again  in  the 
sixth  century  by  Boethius.  He  became  the 
connecting  link  between  the  logical  and  meta- 
physical science  of  antiquity  and  the  scientific 
attempts  of  the  middle  ages.  His  Consolations 
of  Philosophy  exercised  a  very  profound  influ- 
ence upon  the  thought  and  feeling  of  nascent 
Christendom. 

126 


RELATION  TO  CHRISTIANITY 

It  is  difficult  to  trace  the  influence  of  Greek 
philosophy,  the  logical  and  metaphysical  sci- 
ence of  antiquity,  upon  mediaeval  thought. 
Boethius  was  a  thorough  student  of  Greek 
philosophy,  and  in  an  uncompleted  work  he 
had  endeavored  to  reconcile  the  philosophies 
of  Plato  and  Aristotle.  During  the  century 
in  which  he  lived  Boethius  shone  forth  with 
the  brightest  lustre  in  the  republic  of  letters, 
as  a  philosopher,  an  orator,  a  poet,  and  a 
divine.  His  greatest  work,  De  Consolations 
Philosophiae,  was  read  during  the  middle  ages 
with  the  greatest  reverence  by  all  Christen- 
dom. King  Alfred  translated  it  into  Anglo- 
Saxon,  and  Thomas  Aquinas  wrote  a  com- 
mentary on  it.  In  the  fourteenth  century 
Chaucer  made  an  English  translation,  and  be- 
fore the  sixteenth  century  it  was  translated 
into  German,  French,  Italian,  Spanish,  and 
Greek.  We  know  what  position  it  occupies 
in  the  spiritual  development  of  Dante. 

The  Consolatio  is  theistic  in  its  language, 
but  affords  no  indication  that  Boethius  was  a 
Christian.  This  work  is  tinctured  with  the 
Stoic  philosophy,  and  thus  its  great  influence 

127 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

in  promulgating  the  Stoic  doctrine  among  the 
scholars  of  later  times.  "  It  was  the  last  work 
dealing  with  Greek  philosophy,  prior  to  the 
breaking  up  of  the  empire,  which  stayed  the 
study  of  the  literature  of  Greece  for  nearly  a 
thousand  years.  The  last  voice  which  sounded 
from  the  old  classical  civilization  through  the 
thousand  years  during  which  Western  Christ- 
endom was  growing  to  its  manhood,  was  that 
of  this  very  noble  teacher  of  the  Stoic  school. 
Through  Boethius,  accordingly,  Stoicism  has 
become  an  appreciable  factor  in  the  thought 
of  Christendom,  and  carries  on  the  ancient 
philosophy  into  the  life  of  the  modern 
world/' x  Although  Aristotle,  called  par  emi- 
nence "  the  philosopher,"  dominated  the  minds 
of  the  scholars  for  three  or  four  hundred  years, 
yet  during  that  time  not  one  unequivocal 
truth  was  added  to  the  domain  of  philosophy. 
Occasionally,  however,  the  Stoic  system  found 
its  champions  and  exponents,  such  as  Justus 
Lipsius  (i  547—  1 606), whose  edition  of  Tacitus 
is  almost  epoch-making  in  the  completeness 
and  elaboration  of  its  exhaustive  commentary. 

1  Brown,  Stoics  and  Saints,  p.  76. 

128 


SOME  ROMAN  STOICS 


IX 
EPICTETUS 

VERY  little  is  known  of  the  life  of  Epicte- 
tus.  The  year  of  his  birth  is  not  known,  he 
must  have  been  born,  however,  before  the 
end  of  Nero's  reign,  68  A.D.,  probably  during 
one  of  the  last  eight  years,  else  he  could  not 
have  been  more  than  twenty-one  when  Domi- 
mn  published  that  edict  against  philosophers, 
and  "  cleared  Rome  of  what  most  shamed 
him,"  in  89  A.D.,  in  consequence  of  which  Ep- 
ictetus  retired  from  Rome  to  Nicopolis,  in  Epi- 
rus,  a  city  built  by  Augustus  to  commemorate 
the  victory  of  Actium.  We  know  that  he  was 
born  at  Hierapolis  in  Phrygia,  a  town  on  the 
Lycus,  not  far  from  Laodicea  andColopae.  Ep- 
ictetus  was  a  slave  of  Epaphroditus,  a  profli- 
gate freedman  of  the  emperor  Nero,  and  who 
had  been  one  of  his  body-guard.  The  names 
and  condition  of  his  parents  are  unknown,  but 
he  appears  to  have  come  of  a  humble  stock, 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

and  Simplicius,  the  commentator  on  the  En- 
cheiridion,  says  that  he  was  sickly,  deformed, 
and  lame  from  a  very  early  age.  Origen  pre- 
served an  anecdote  of  him,  that  when  his  mas- 
ter put  his  leg  in  the  torture,  Epictetus  quietly 
said,  "  You  will  break  it "  ;  and  when  he  did 
break  it,  only  observed,  "  Did  I  not  tell  you 
that  you  would  do  so  ? '  This  circumstance  is 
adduced  by  Celsus  in  his  famous  controversy 
with  Origen  as  an  instance  of  Pagan  fortitude 
equal  to  anything  which  Christian  martyrol- 
ogy  had  to  show. 

We  are  not  told  how  Epictetus  managed  to 
effect  his  freedom,  but  he  could  not  have  been 
a  slave  when  he  left  Rome  in  consequence  of 
the  edict  against  philosophers.  We  learn  that 
Epictetus  was  permitted  to  attend  the  lectures 
of  C.  Musonius  Rufus,  a  Stoic  philosopher. 
Epictetus  refers  to  Rufus  in  his  Discourses,  and 
he  evidently  had  for  him  a  great  admiration. 
"  It  is  not  easy,"  says  Epictetus,  "  to  train  ef- 
feminate youths,  any  more  than  it  is  easy  to 
take  up  whey  with  a  hook.  But  those  of  fine 
nature,  even  if  you  discourage  them,  desire  in- 
struction all  the  more.  For  which  reason  Ru- 

132 


EPICTETUS 

fus  often  discouraged  pupils,  using  this  as  a 
criterion  of  fine  and  of  common  natures ;  for  he 
used  to  say,  that  just  as  a  stone,  even  if  you 
fling  it  into  the  air,  will  fall  down  to  the  earth 
by  its  own  gravitating  force,  so  also  a  noble 
nature,  in  proportion  as  it  is  repulsed,  in  that 
proportion  tends  more  in  its  own  natural 
direction."  In  his  Discourse  on  Ostentation, 
Epictetus  says  that  Rufus  was  in  the  habit  of 
remarking  to  his  pupils,  "  If  you  have  leisure 
to  praise  me,  I  can  have  done  you  no  good." 
"  He  used  indeed  so  to  address  us  that  each 
one  of  us,  sitting  there,  thought  that  some  one 
had  been  privately  telling  tales  against  him  in 
particular,  so  completely  did  Rufus  seize  hold 
of  his  characteristics,  so  vividly  did  he  por- 
tray our  individual  faults." 

Garnier,  the  author  of  a  Memoire  sur  les  ou- 
vrages  d' Epictete,  says  :  that  Epictetus  was  in- 
debted "  apparently  for  the  advantages  of  a 
good  education  to  the  whim,  very  common  at 
the  end  of  the  Republic  and  under  the  first 
emperors,  among  the  great  of  Rome  to  reckon 
among  their  numerous  slaves,  grammarians, 
poets,  rhetoricians,  and  philosophers,  in  the 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

same  way  as  rich  financiers  in  these  later  ages 
have  been  led  to  form  at  a  great  cost  rich  and 
numerous  libraries.  This  supposition  is  the 
only  one  which  can  explain  to  us,  how  a  wretch- 
ed child,  born  as  poor  as  Irus,  had  received  a 
good  education,  and  how  a  rigid  Stoic  was  the 
slave  of  Epaphroditus,  one  of  the  officers  of 
the  imperial  guard.  For  we  cannot  suspect  that 
it  was  predilection  for  the  Stoic  doctrine  and 
for  his  own  use,  that  the  confidant  and  the  min- 
ister of  the  debaucheries  of  Nero  would  have 
desired  to  possess  such  a  slave." 

It  is  a  question  whether,  Epictetus  ever  re- 
turned to  Rome.  After  Hadrian  became  em- 
peror (A.D.  117),  Epictetus  was  treated  with 
favor,  as  we  learn  from  Spartian's  life  of  Ha- 
drian, but  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  of  his 
discourses  having  been  delivered  at  Rome,  but 
they  contain  frequent  mention  of  Nicopolis. 
At  Nicopolis  Epictetus  opened  a  school  where 
he  taught  his  philosophy  until  he  became  an 
old  man.  Suidas  says  that  he  lived  until  the 
reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  but  Aulus  Gellius, 
writing  during  the  reign  of  the  first  Antonine, 
speaks  of  Epictetus  as  being  dead.  "  Epicte- 

'34 


EPICTETUS 

tus,  a  slave,  maimed  in  body,  an  Irus  in  pov- 
erty, and  favored  by  the  Immortals." 

Epictetus  lived  for  a  long  while  in  a  small 
hut,  with  no  other  furniture  than  a  bed  and 
a  lamp,  and  without  an  attendant.  However, 
he  adopted  and  brought  up  a  child  whom  a 
friend  of  his  was  about  to  expose  to  death,  on 
account  of  his  poverty.  He  was  obliged  also 
to  take  a  woman  into  his  house  as  a  nurse  for 
the  child.  We  learn  from  Lucian  that  Epic- 
tetus was  never  married.  We  are  also  told  by 
Lucian  that  on  the  death  of  Epictetus,  his 
lamp  was  purchased  by  some  enthusiastic  ad- 
mirer, for  three  thousand  drachmas,  or  over 
five  hundred  dollars  of  our  currency.  Lucian 
ridicules  this  purchaser,  as  hoping  to  acquire 
the  wisdom  of  Epictetus  by  study  over  it. 

We  are  told  by  Arrian,  in  his  preface  to 
the  Discourses,  that  he  was  a  powerful  and  ex- 
citing lecturer ;  and  according  to  Origen,  his 
style  was  superior  to  that  of  Plato. 

Epictetus  wrote  nothing ;  and  all  that  we 
have  under  his  name  was  written  by  his  pupil 
Arrian,  afterwards  the  historian  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  who,  as  he  tells  us,  took  down  in 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

writing  the  philosopher's  discourses.  Arrian 
had  become  a  disciple  of  Epictetus  during  his 
residence  at  Rome.  Like  Xenophon,  he 
united  the  literary  with  the  military  character, 
and  while  prefect  of  Cappadocia  he  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  valor  in  the  war 
against  the  Massagetae.  No  less  than  seven 
of  the  epistles  of  Pliny  the  younger  are  ad- 
dressed to  Arrian.  He  was  a  prolific  writer, 
but  we  are  interested  here  with  the  conver- 
sations of  his  teacher.  There  were  originally 
eight  books  of  them,  besides  the  Encheiridion, 
which  was  compiled  from  them,  and  an  ac- 
count of  the  life  and  death  of  Epictetus.  Only 
four  of  the  original  eight  books  are  extant. 
These,  with  the  Encheiridion,  and  a  few  frag- 
ments preserved  in  quotations  by  various 
authors,  are  all  that  we  know  of  his  teachings. 

The  following  preface  to  the  Discourses,  was 
written  by  Arrian  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  a 
friend,  Lucius  Gellius,  which  indirectly  throws 
some  light  on  the  origin  of  the  Encheiridion :  — 

"  I  did  not  write  the  words  of  Epictetus  in 
the  manner  in  which  a  man  might  write  such 
things.  Neither  have  I  put  them  forth  among 

136 


EPICTETUS 

men,  since,  as  I  say,  I  did  not  even  write  them 
(in  literary  form).  But  whatever  I  heard  him 
speak,  these  things  I  have  endeavored  to  set 
down  in  his  very  words,  that  having  written 
them  I  might  preserve  to  myself  for  future 
times  a  memorial  of  his  thought  and  un- 
studied speech.  Naturally,  therefore,  they  are 
such  things  as  one  man  might  say  to  another 
on  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  not  such  as 
he  would  write  in  the  idea  of  finding  readers 
long  afterwards.  Such  they  are,  and  I  know 
not  how,  without  my  will  or  knowledge,  they 
fell  among  men.  But  to  me  it  matters  little 
if  I  shall  appear  an  incompetent  writer,  and 
to  Epictetus  not  at  all,  if  any  one  shall  despise 
his  words.  For  when  he  was  speaking  them  it 
was  evident  that  he  had  only  one  aim  —  to 
stir  the  minds  of  his  hearers  towards  the  best 
things.  And  if,  indeed,  the  words  here  written 
should  do  this,  then  they  will  do,  I  think, 
that  which  the  words  of  philosophers  ought 
to  do.  But  if  not,  let  those  who  read  them 
know  this,  that  when  he  himself  spoke  them 
it  was  impossible  for  the  hearer  to  avoid  feel- 
ing whatever  Epictetus  desired  he  should  feel. 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

And  if  his  words,  when  they  are  merely  words, 
have  not  this  effect,  perhaps  it  is  that  I  am  in 

fault,  perhaps  it  could  not  have  been  other- 

» 
wise. 

In  the  sixth  century  an  elaborate  commen- 
tary on  the  Encheiridion  was  written  in  Greek, 
by  Simplicius,  a  native  of  Cilicia,  who  also 
wrote  a  commentary  on  Aristotle.  Simplicius 
states  that  the  Encheiridion  was  put  together 
by  Arrian,  who  selected  from  the  Discourses  of 
Epictetus  what  he  considered  to  be  most  use- 
ful, and  most  necessary,  and  most  adapted  to 
move  men's  minds.  Each  chapter  is  dissected, 
discussed,  and  its  lessons  applied.  It  was  one 
of  the  most  valuable  moral  treatises  that  has 
come  down  to  us  from  antiquity,  and,  as  Sim- 
plicius says,  it  tells  us  what  kind  of  man  Epic- 
tetus was. 

Epictetus  was  the  prophet,  preacher,  and 
theologian  of  the  Stoic  sect.  A  figure  of 
unique  grandeur,  with  the  moral  stamina  of 
Socrates,  and  a  reverent  piety,  no  one,  as  Pas- 
cal shows,  among  philosophers,  has  more  truly 
recognized  man's  duties  toward  God  and  him- 
self. No  other  philosopher  before  him  has  re- 

138 


EPICTETUS 

vealed  precepts  so  much  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  of  Christianity.  Epictetus  formu- 
lated clearly  enough  the  doctrine  which  was 
expressed  in  the  hymn  of  Cleanthes,  that  we 
are  the  offspring  of  God,  and  he  rises  to  a 
height  of  lyric  fervor  when  he  speaks  of  the 
providence  of  God,  of  the  moral  beauty  of 
his  works,  and  the  strange  insensibility  of 
ungrateful  men.  He  felt  he  owed  all  to  God; 
that  all  was  his  gift,  and  that  we  should  be 
grateful  not  only  for  our  bodies,  but  for  our 
souls,  and  reason,  by  which  we  attain  to  great- 
ness. And  if  God  has  given  us  a  priceless  gift, 
we  should  be  contented,  and  not  even  seek  to 
alter  our  external  relations,  which  are  doubt- 
less for  the  best.  We  should  wish,  indeed,  for 
only  what  God  wills  and  sends,  and  we  should 
avoid  pride  and  haughtiness,  as  well  as  dis- 
content, and  seek  to  fulfill  our  allotted  part. 
Nowhere  in  heathen  literature  do  we  find 
such  a  joyful  conception  of  God  and  his 
beneficence  as  in  the  following  passage:  — 

"For  if  we  had  understanding,  ought  we 
to  do  anything  else  both  jointly  and  severally 
than  to  sing  hymns  and  bless  the  Deity,  and 

'39 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

to  tell  of  his  benefits  ?  Ought  we  not,  when 
we  are  digging  and  ploughing  and  eating,  to 
sing  this  hymn  to  God  ?  (  Great  is  God  who 
has  given  us  such  implements  with  which  we 
shall  cultivate  the  earth;  great  is  God  who 
has  given  us  hands,  the  power  of  swallowing 
our  food,  imperceptible  growth,  and  the  pow- 
er of  breathing  while  we  sleep/  This  is  what 
we  ought  to  sing  on  every  occasion,  and  to 
sing  the  greatest  and  most  divine  hymn  for 
giving  us  the  faculty  of  comprehending  these 
things  and  using  a  proper  way. ...  I  am  a  ra- 
tional creature,  and  I  ought  to  praise  God; 
this  is  my  work:  I  do  it,  nor  will  I  desert  this 
post  so  long  as  I  am  allowed  to  keep  it;  and 
I  exhort  you  to  join  in  this  same  song." 

Says  Canon  Farrar,1  "There  is  an  almost 
lyric  beauty  about  these  expressions  of  resig- 
nation and  faith  in  God,  and  it  is  the  utter- 
ance of  such  warm  feelings  toward  Divine 
Providence  that  constitutes  the  chief  origi- 
nality of  Epictetus.  It  is  interesting  to  think 
that  the  oppressed  heathen  philosopher  found 
the  same  consolation,  and  enjoyed  the  same 

'Seekers  after  God,  p.  197. 

140 


EPICTETUS 

contentment,  as  the  persecuted  Christian 
apostle.  'Whether  ye  eat  or  drink/  says  St. 
Paul,  cor  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory 
of  God/  'Think  of  God/  says  Epictetus, 
(  oftener  than  you  breathe.  Let  discourse  of 
God  be  renewed  daily  more  surely  than  your 
food.'  " 

Epictetus  would  not  have  his  disciples  rest 
content  with  the  selfish  hope  of  saving  their 
own  souls  ;  rather,  he  would  have  them  ever 
think  of  the  human  brotherhood,  and  live 
not  for  themselves  but  for  the  world.  As  a 
child  of  God,  he  must  imitate  and  obey  him  ; 
as  a  citizen  of  the  world,  he  must  have  no  self- 
ish interests  ;  as  a  brother  to  his  fellow  men, 
he  must  love  and  help  them,  being  members 
one  of  another.  Epictetus  speaks  of  the  true 
philosopher  as  set  apart  by  a  special  call, 
anointed  with  the  unction  of  God's  grace  to  a 
missionary  work  of  lifelong  self-devotion,  as 
the  apostle  of  a  high  social  creed.  He  said 
that  heaven's  wrath  would  light  on  him  who 
intruded  rashly  into  a  ministry  so  holy. 

Epictetus  insists,  as  few  creeds  have  ever 
done,  upon  the  strength  and  dignity  of  man- 

141 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

hood.  All  men  are  brothers,  since  all  have  in 
the  same  degree  God,  for  their  father.  Man, 
therefore,  wno  and  whatever  else  he  may  be, 
is  the  object  of  our  solicitude,  simply  as  be- 
ing man.  No  hostility  and  ill-treatment  should 
quench  our  benevolence.  No  one  is  so  low 
but  that  he  has  claims  on  the  love  and  justice 
of  his  fellow  men.  Even  the  slave  is  a  man 
deserving  our  esteem,  and  able  to  claim  from 
us  his  rights.  The  same  thought  leads  Epic- 
tetus  to  give  a  wider  range  to  the  conceptions 
of  nationality  and  race,  and  advises  all  men 
to  call  themselves  citizens,  of  the  world  when 
asked  to  what  country  they  belong,  and  not 
say  that  they  are  an  Athenian  or  Corinthian. 
Epictetus  would  have  us  always  ready  to 
resign  the  blessings  which  God's  providence 
has  lent  us  for  awhile.  "  Never  say  about 
anything  I  have  lost  it,  but  say  I  have  re- 
stored it.  Is  your  child  dead  ?  It  has  been 
restored.  Is  your  wife  dead?  She  has  been 
restored.  Has  your  estate  been  taken  from 
you  ?  Has  not  this,  then,  also  been  restored  ? 
(  But  he  who  has  taken  it  from  me  is  a  bad 
man.'  But  what  is  it  to  you  by  whose  hands 

142 


EPICTETUS 

the  giver  demanded  it  back  ?  So  long  as  he 
may  allow  you,  take  care  of  it  as  a  thing 
which  belongs  to  another,  as  travelers  do  with 
their  inn." 

Epictetus  mentions  three  topics  or  classes 
under  which  the  whole  of  moral  philosophy 
is  comprehended.  There  are  the  desires  and 
aversions,  the  pursuits  and  avoidances,  or  the 
exercise  of  active  powers,  and  the  assents 
which  are  given  by  the  understanding.  His 
moral  precepts  are  mainly  summed  up  in  two 
words :  endure  and  abstain.  He  urges  con- 
tentment upon  the  principle  that  all  things 
occur  under  the  allotment  of  Providence,  that 
is,  that  an  inexorable  fate  presided  over  all 
things. 

Epictetus  illustrated  the  difference  of  his 
age  from  that  of  Plato  and  also  of  Chrysippus, 
in  that  he  practically  abandoned  all  specula- 
tion, and  confined  himself  to  dogmatic  prac- 
tical ethics.  While  he  accepted  and  handed  on 
the  speculative  basis  of  morality  as  laid  down 
by  the  earlier  Stoics,  his  real  strength  was 
in  his  preaching  and  teaching.  He  called  his 
school  a  "  healing-place  for  diseased  souls." 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

Says  he :  — "  Before  all,  must  the  future 
teacher  of  the  human  race  undertake  himself 
to  extinguish  his  own  passions,  and  say  to 
himself,  my  own  soul  is  the  material  at  which 
I  must  work,  as  does  the  carpenter  at  wood 
and  the  shoemaker  at  leather.' 


144 


X 

SENECA 

Lucius  ANN^US  SENECA  was  born  in  Cor- 
dova, Spain,  about  8  B.C.  His  father,  M.  An- 
naeus  Seneca,  a  rhetorician,  was  a  man  ot 
considerable  wealth,  enjoying  the  privileges 
of  Roman  knighthood,  and  the  friendship  of 
many  distinguished  Romans.  He  was  a  na- 
tive of  Spain,  but  lived  a  good  part  of  his 
life  in  Rome.  While  visiting  Spain  he  mar- 
ried Helvia,  and  had  by  her  three  sons.  The 
youngest,  Mela,  was  the  father  of  the  poet 
Lucan,  and  shared  in  the  misfortunes  of  that 
unlucky  poet.  The  eldest  son  was  adopted 
by  his  father's  friend,  Gallic,  and  became  the 
Roman  governor  of  Greece  who  "  cared  for 
none  of  these  things."1  The  second  son, 
Lucius  Annaeus,  when  a  child,  was  brought 
by  his  father  to  Rome,  where  he  was  trained  in 
his  father's  art,  but  subsequently  forsook  rhet- 

1  Acts  xviii,  12-17. 

H5 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

oric  for  philosophy.  He  traveled  in  Greece 
and  Egypt ;  and,  in  obedience  to  his  father's 
wishes,  he  pleaded  in  courts  of  law,  and  as  an 
orator  achieved  considerable  success.  But  his 
success  as  an  advocate  exposed  him  to  the 
dangerous  jealousy  of  Caligula,  and  he  final- 
ly left  the  bar,  fearing  the  vengeance  of  Calig- 
ula, who  sought  to  destroy  him,  but  spared  his 
life  when  it  was  represented  to  him  that  Sene- 
ca's health  was  feeble,  and  that  he  would,  in 
all  probability,  be  only  short  lived.  He  after- 
wards attained  the  quaestorship,  and  had  al- 
ready risen  high  in  the  favor  of  the  Emperor 
Claudius,  when,  through  the  efforts  of  Mes- 
salina,  the  wife  of  Claudius,  who  accused 
Seneca  of  some  disgraceful  actions  with  the 
daughter  of  Germanicus,  the  brother  of  Clau- 
dius, he  was  exiled  to  Corsica,  where  he  re- 
mained eight  years,  deriving  from  philosophy 
what  consolation  he  could,  cultivating  the 
practical  ethics  of  the  Stoic  school. 

During  his  exile,  Seneca  composed  De 
consolatione  ad  Helviam  liber  y  "On  Consola- 
tion, addressed  to  his  mother  Helvia,"  and 
De  consolatione  ad  Polybium  liber y  "On  Con- 

146 


SENECA 

solation,  addressed  to  Polybius."  The  work 
was  addressed  to  his  mother  to  console  her  not 
only  under  the  misfortune  that  had  befallen 
her  in  his  sentence,  but  under  all  that  had 
been  experienced  by  her.  The  second  work 
was  addressed  to  the  dissolute  freedman  Po- 
lybius, a  favorite  of  Claudius,  who  had  lately 
lost  a  brother,  a  young  man  of  great  promise, 
and  contained  the  most  fulsome  flatteries  in- 
tended for  the  ears  of  both.  It  contains  some 
fine  passages,  but  is  unworthy  of  coming 
from  the  pen  of  Seneca.  Diderot,  in  his  Essay 
on  the  Life  of  Seneca^  has  attacked  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  work,  and  Ruhkoff,  one  of  the 
later  editors  of  Seneca,  considers  it  of  doubt- 
ful authority. 

In  A.D.  49,  Seneca  was  recalled  to  Rome, 
and  raised  to  the  praetorship  by  Agrippina, 
when  she  had  destroyed  her  imperial  rival,  to 
undertake  the  education  of  her  son  Lucius 
Domitius,  afterwards  the  Emperor  Nero,  in 
conjunction  with  Burrus,  who  was  his  govern- 
or and  military  tutor.  Under  his  two  tutors 
Nero  gave  some  promise  of  statesmanlike  de- 
velopment, but  upon  the  death  of  Burrus, 

H7 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

Nero  began  rapidly  to  develop  the  worst  side 
of  his  character,  and  was  soon  beyond  all  re- 
straint. As  Tacitus  says,  "  By  the  death  of 
Burrus,  Seneca  lost  the  chief  support  of  his 
power.  The  friend  of  upright  measures  was 
snatched  away,  and  virtue  could  no  longer 
make  head  against  the  corruptions  of  a  court, 
governed  altogether  by  the  wild  and  profligate. 
By  that  set  of  men  Seneca  was  undermined." 
While  Seneca  was  his  favorite  minister, 
writing  the  young  emperor's  addresses  to  the 
senate,  etc.,  he  had  obtained  great  influence 
over  his  pupil,  and  he  had  also  taken  the 
opportunity  to  greatly  enrich  himself,  hav- 
ing accumulated  300,000  sestertia,  or  over 
$12,000,000  of  our  money.  It  is  uncertain 
how  far  Seneca  was  implicated  in  the  murder 
of  Britannicus,  but  there  seems  but  little 
doubt  that  he  at  least  consented  to  the  assas- 
sination of  Agrippina,  which  Nero  defended 
in  a  letter  to  the  senate,  penned,  according  to 
Tacitus,  by  Seneca,  condoning  at  least,  and 
justifying  the  deed  as  a  political  necessity. 
Seneca  now  became  the  object  of  popular 
censure,  particularly  after  being  attacked  by 

148 


SENECA 

Suillius,  who  accused  him  of  usury,  avarice, 
and  rapacity.  Nero  listened  to  evil  counsellors, 
who  charged  Seneca  with  having  exorbitant 
wealth,  above  the  condition  of  a  private  citi- 
zen; he  was  accused  of  courting  the  affections 
of  the  people,  and,  by  the  grandeur  of  his 
villas,  and  the  beauty  of  his  gardens,  hoping 
to  vie  with  imperial  splendor.  In  matters  of 
taste  and  genius,  too,  and  especially  in  poetic 
composition,  he  had  the  hardihood  to  become 
the  rival  of  his  imperial  master.  Seneca  was  now 
sixty  years  of  age,  and  when  these  accusations 
reached  him,  he  avoided  the  court,  and  lived 
an  abstemious  life,  in  constant  danger.  His 
speech  to  the  emperor,  in  which  he  offers  to 
resign  all  his  wealth  and  power,  and  asks  per- 
mission to  retire,  is  a  fine  specimen  of  apolo- 
getic eloquence.  But  he  was  accused  of  treason, 
and  Sylvanus  the  tribune,  by  order  of  Nero, 
surrounded  Seneca's  magnificent  villa,  near 
Rome,  with  a  troop  of  soldiers,  and  then  sent 
a  centurion  to  acquaint  him  with  the  em- 
peror's orders,  that  he  should  put  himself  to 
death.  Says  Tacitus : '  — 

1  Annals,  xv,  Ixii. 

149 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

"  Seneca  heard  the  message  with  calm  com- 
posure. He  called  for  his  will,  and  being  de- 
prived of  that  right  of  a  Roman  citizen  by  the 
centurion,  he  turned  to  his  friends,  and  {  you 
see/  he  said,  c  that  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  re- 
quite your  services  with  the  last  marks  of  my 
esteem.  One  thing,  however,  still  remains.  I 
leave  you  the  example  of  my  life,  the  best 
and  most  precious  legacy  now  in  my  power. 
Cherish  it  in  your  memory,  and  you  will  gain 
at  once  the  applause  due  to  virtue,  and  the 
fame  of  a  sincere  and  generous  friendship.' 
All  who  were  present  melted  into  tears.  He 
endeavored  to  assuage  their  sorrows  ;  he  of- 
fered his  advice  with  mild  persuasion ;  he  used 
the  tone  of  authority.  f  Where/  he  said,  c  are 
the  precepts  of  philosophy,  and  where  the 
words  of  wisdom,  which  for  years  have  taught 
us  to  meet  the  calamities  of  life  with  firmness 
and  a  well-prepared  spirit  ?  Was  the  cruelty 
of  Nero  unknown  to  any  of  us?  He  mur- 
dered his  mother ;  he  destroyed  his  brother ; 
and,  after  those  deeds  of  horror,  what  remains 
to  fill  the  measure  of  his  guilt  but  the  death 
of  his  guardian  and  his  tutor  ? ' 

150 


SENECA 

"  Having  delivered  himself  in  these  pa- 
thetic terms,  he  directed  his  attention  to  his 
wife.  He  clasped  her  in  his  arms,  and  in  that 
fond  embrace  yielded  for  a  while  to  the  ten- 
derness of  his  nature.  Recovering  his  resolu- 
tion, he  entreated  her  to  appease  her  grief, 
and  bear  in  mjnd  that  his  life  was  spent  in  a 
constant  course  of  honor  and  of  virtue.  That 
consideration  would  serve  to  heal  affliction, 
and  sweeten  all  her  sorrows.  Paulina  was  still 
inconsolable.  She  was  determined  to  die  with 
her  husband;  she  invoked  the  aid  of  the  exe- 
cutioners, and  begged  them  to  end  her  wretch- 
ed being.  Seneca  saw  that  she  was  animated 
by  the  love  of  glory,  and  that  generous  princi- 
ple he  thought  ought  not  to  be  restrained.  The 
idea  of  leaving  a  beloved  object  to  the  insults 
of  the  world,  and  the  malice  of  her  enemies, 
pierced  him  to  the  quick.  'It  has  been  my 
care,'  he  said,  'to  instruct  you  in  that  best 
philosophy,  the  art  of  mitigating  the  ills  of 
life  ;  but  you  prefer  an  honorable  death.  I  will 
not  envy  you  the  vast  renown  that  must  at- 
tend your  fall.  Since  you  will  have  it  so,  we 
will  die  together.  We  will  leave  behind  us  an 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

example  of  equal  constancy  ;  but  the  glory  will 
be  all  your  own/ 

"These  words  were  no  sooner  uttered,  than 
the  veins  of  both  their  arms  were  opened.  At 
Seneca's  time  of  life  the  blood  was  slow  and 
languid.  The  decay  of  nature,  and  the  im- 
poverishing diet  to  which  he  had  used  him- 
self, left  him  in  a  feeble  condition.  He  ordered 
the  vessels  of  his  legs  and  joints  to  be  punc- 
tured. After  that  operation  he  began  to  labor 
with  excruciating  pains.  Lest  his  sufferings 
should  overpower  the  constancy  of  his  wife, 
or  the  sight  of  her  afflictions  prove  too  much 
for  his  own  sensibility,  he  persuaded  her  to 
retire  into  another  room.  His  eloquence  con- 
tinued to  flow  with  its  usual  purity.  He  called 
for  his  secretaries,  and  dictated,  while  life  was 
ebbing  away,  that  farewell  discourse,  which  has 
been  published,  and  is  in  everybody's  hands." 

In  order  to  hasten  his  death,  Seneca  also 
took  hemlock,  and  had  himself  suffocated  in 
a  vapor  bath.  His  wife  was  saved  against  her 
wishes  by  the  soldiers  at  the  entreaty  of  her 
slaves  and  freedmen.  Seneca's  body  was  buried 
privately  without  ceremony,  as  he  had  directed 

152 


SENECA 

by  his  will  (A.D.  65).  Owing  to  his  tutor  At- 
talus,  Seneca  early  became  a  vegetarian,  but 
his  father  prevailed  upon  him  to  use  flesh 
meat  lest  he  should  be  suspected  of  abstain- 
ing upon  superstitious  grounds.  However,  he 
persistently  renounced  the  two  great  dainties 
of  the  time,  mushrooms  and  oysters,  because 
they  served  not  to  nourishment,  but  to  appe- 
tite. Tacitus  says  that  at  one  time  Seneca 
lived  on  wild  apples,  that  grew  in  the  woods, 
and  his  sole  drink  was  water. 

Seneca's  extant  writings  are  mainly  on 
moral  subjects,  and  consist  of  Epistles,  and 
'Treatises  on  Anger,  Consolation,  Providence, 
Tranquillity  of  Mind,  Philosophical  Con- 
stancy, Clemency,  The  Shortness  of  Life, 
A  Happy  Life,  Philosophical  Retirement, 
and  Benefits.  Seneca  also  wrote  seven  books 
entitled  Questiones  Naturales^  in  which  he  is 
thought  to  have  anticipated  some  notions  re- 
garded as  principles  in  modern  physics.  "  The 
theory  of  earthquakes,"  says  Humboldt,  "as 
given  by  Seneca,  contains  the  germs  of  all 
that  has  been  stated  in  our  times  concerning 
the  action  of  elastic  vapors  enclosed  in  the 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

interior  of  the  globe.  We  learn  from  Seneca 
the  point  to  which  the  ancients  carried  their 
scientific  researches  without  the  aid  of  instru- 
ments." 

Teuffel,1  referring  to  the  philosophical  writ- 
ings of  Seneca,  says,  that  they  "  charm  the 
reader  by  their  breadth  of  view,  their  large  and 
fine  observation,  their  abundance  of  knowl- 
edge unalloyed  with  pedantry,  their  nobility 
of  thought  and  warmth  of  feeling,  and  their 
gorgeous  style  enlivened  with  all  the  resources 
of  rhetoric."  Says  Coleridge,  "  You  may  get 
a  motto  for  every  sect  in  religion,  or  live 
thought  in  morals  and  philosophy  from  Sene- 
ca, but  nothing  is  ever  thought  out  by  him." 

Seneca  was  unquestionably  the  most  bril- 
liant figure  of  his  time,  and  he  may  also  be 
regarded  as  the  most  important  of  the  Roman 
Stoic  school,  for  he  was  the  most  elaborate 
of  all  the  interpreters  of  the  Stoic  philosophy. 
Seneca  excels  all  other  writers  of  antiquity  in 
the  particular  department  of  morals  by  which 
he  is  best  known.  In  many  of  his  educational 
and  social  doctrines  he  is  surprisingly  in  ad- 

1  History  of  Roman  Literature,  p.  288. 

154 


SENECA 

vance  of  his  age,  and  it  is  astonishing  how 
penetrating  is  the  knowledge  that  he  displays. 
He  became  to  a  certain  extent  the  director  of 
conscience,  guide,  and  adviser  in  all  matters, 
bodily  as  well  as  spiritual,  and  he  gives  minute 
precepts  for  every  circumstance  of  life.  At  all 
times  he  gave  the  wealth  of  his  knowledge  and 
his  varied  experience  to  his  friends,  and  ap- 
pealed strongly,  and  reiterated  his  appeals  to 
men's  hearts  rather  than  to  convincing  their 
intellect.  He  says,  "To  knock  once  at  the 
door  when  you  come  at  night  is  never  enough ; 
the  blow  must  be  hard,  and  it  must  be  sec- 
onded. Repetition  is  not  a  fault,  it  is  a  neces- 
sity." 

In  an  age  of  unbelief  and  compromise, 
Seneca  taught  that  truth  was  positive  and  vir- 
tue objective.  His  teaching  was  a  refined  and 
spiritual  Stoicism,  yet  he  culled  his  precepts 
from  every  form  of  doctrine  with  impartial 
appreciation.  He  taught  how  to  act  so  as  to 
win  happiness  here;  (i)  by  subduing  the  flesh 
to  the  spirit  through  feeling,  mortification  and 
retirement ;  (2)  by  living  for  one's  family, 
friends,  and  country,  and  treating  slaves  and 

155 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

inferiors  kindly  as  fellow  servants  in  the  work 
and  welfare  of  existence;  (3)  by  devotion  to 
philosophy  as  the  awakener  of  conscience  and 
the  best  preparation  for  death  ;  (4)  by  self- 
examination,  self-knowledge,  simplicity  of  liv- 
ing, and  patience  under  suffering.  "  The  rem- 
edies of  the  soul,"  he  says,  "have  been  dis- 
covered long  ago ;  it  is  for  us  to  learn  how  to 
apply  them." 

Seneca  was  too  practical  to  care  for  abstract 
speculations,  but  when  he  places  himself  un- 
der any  banner  it  is  always  that  of  Zeus  ;  but 
while  he  started  from  the  Stoic  system,  its 
barren  austerity  was  toned  down,  its  harsh- 
ness softened,  and  its  crotchets  were  laid  aside. 
His  system,  however,  taken  in  its  main 
outline  is  rigid  enough,  but  it  is  full  of  con- 
cessions, and  Seneca  deserves  praise  for  the 
cleverness  with  which  he  steers  over  danger- 
ous ground.  For  instance,  he  taught  that 
riches  being  indifferent  need  not  be  given  up, 
that  the  good  rich  man  differs  from  the  bad 
in  spirit,  not  in  externals,  etc.  He  was  the 
first  moralist  to  enunciate  the  brotherhood  of 
man,  the  unholiness  of  war,  the  sanctity  of 

156 


SENECA 

human  life,  the  rights  of  slaves,  and  their 
claims  to  our  affections. 

Seneca  was  intensely  practical,  and  he  had 
many  of  the  noble  qualities  of  an  old  Roman, 
but  he  set  his  ideal  too  high,  and  he  lacked  the 
firmness  to  live  up  to  his  own  standard.  As 
a  man  he  dishonored  the  doctrines  which  he 
expounded  and  defended  with  so  much  elo- 
quence and  power.  As  a  writer  has  said,  "He 
was  rich,  cultivated  and  famous  ;  in  the  fore- 
most rank  in  the  foremost  city  in  the  world ; 
the  friend,  the  tutor,  the  counsellor  of  the 
imperial  masters  of  the  whole  realm  of  civili- 
zation, it  was  about  as  hard  for  him  to  live 
out  the  Stoic  doctrine,  as,  according  to  a 
higher  master  than  Seneca,  it  is  for  a  rich  man 
to  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God/' 

"  Philosophy,"  declares  Seneca,  "  depends 
on  acts  and  not  on  words ;  it  is  disgraceful  to 
say  one  thing  and  to  think  and  write  another. 
The  writings  of  a  philosopher  ought  to  be 
capable  of  application  to  his  own  conduct." 
But  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  the  theory  and 
the  practice,  when  we  consider  the  immense 

1  Brown,  Stoic  and  Saints,  p.  39. 

157 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

wealth  of  Seneca,  dishonestly  obtained,  and 
recognize  him  as  the  writer  of  the  apology 
for  the  murder  of  Agrippina  by  Nero,  her 
son.  Tacitus  says1/////  illi  vero  ingenium  amoe- 
num  et  temporis  ejus  auribus  accommodatum. 
"  He  possessed  a  most  agreeable  wit,  and 
knew  perfectly  what  was  likely  to  tickle  the 
ears  of  his  contemporaries." 

Dio  Cassius  makes  gross  charges  against 
the  private  character  of  Seneca,  but  they  do 
not  rest  on  a  particle  of  evidence.  Living  as 
he  did  amidst  the  splendors  and  vices  of  the 
court,  a  friend  of  one  of  Rome's  most  wicked 
emperors,  Seneca  lived  purely,  temperately 
and  lovingly.  From  his  earliest  days  he  was 
capable  of  adopting  self-denial  as  a  principle, 
in  the  very  midst  of  wealth  and  splendor,  and 
all  the  temptations  which  they  involve,  he 
retained  the  simplicity  of  his  habits,  and  was 
claimed  as  a  convert  to  a  church  with  which 
he  shows  no  sympathy.  The  Fathers  of  the 
church  called  him  "  the  divine  pagan,"  and 
they  accepted  the  view  that  he  had  adopted 
their  faith,  so  often  did  his  religious  and 

1  Annals,  xiii,  3. 

158 


SENECA 

moral  maxims  approximate  to  those  of  Chris- 
tianity. Indeed,  some  writers,  like  M.  Fleury, 
have  endeavored  to  show  that  they  can  only 
be  accounted  for  by  the  supposition  that 
Seneca  had  some  acquaintance  with  the  sacred 
writings.  Zeller  has  shown,  however,  that  the 
statements  of  Seneca — that  this  life  is  a  prelude 
to  a  better  ;  that  the  body  is  a  lodging  house, 
from  which  the  soul  will  return  to  its  own 
home  ;  his  joy  in  looking  forward  to  the  day 
which  will  rend  the  bonds  of  the  body 
asunder,  which  he,  in  common  with  the  early 
Christians,  calls  the  birthday  of  eternal  life  ; 
his  description  of  the  peace  of  the  eternity 
there  awaiting  us,  of  the  freedom  and  bliss  of 
the  heavenly  life,  of  the  light  of  knowledge 
which  will  there  be  shed  on  all  the  secrets  of 
nature ;  his  language  on  the  future  recognition 
and  happy  society  of  souls  made  perfect ;  his 
seeing  in  death  a  great  day  of  judgment, 
when  sentence  will  be  pronounced  on  every 
one ;  his  making  the  thought  of  a  future  life 
the  great  stimulus  to  moral  conduct  here ; 
even  the  way  in  which  he  consoles  himself  for 
the  destruction  of  the  soul  by  the  thought 

"59 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

that  it  will  live  again  in  another  form  here- 
after—  all  contain  nothing  at  variance  with 
the  Stoic  teaching,  however  near  they  may 
approach  to  Platonic  or  even  Christian  modes 
of  thought.1 

There  has  been  much  discussion  regarding 
Seneca's  relation  to  Christianity.  Jerome 
speaks  of  letters  which  passed  between  Paul 
and  Seneca,  and  says  they  were  read  by  many 
(leguntur  a  pluribus],  and  he  ranks  him  in  the 
catalogue  of  saints.  Augustine  also  refers  to 
this  correspondence.  But  Erasmus  and  others 
have  declared  these  letters  apocryphal,  and  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  any  one  now  who 
would  deny  this  conclusion.  However,  we 
know  that  Paul  dwelt  in  Rome  (Acts  xxviii, 
30;  Phil,  i,  13  ;  2  Tim.  iv,  17),  and  was  ac- 
quainted with  Seneca's  brother  Gallio(Acts 
xviii,  12  sqq.),  and  possibly  he  may  have  met 
Seneca,  but  how  much  one  was  influenced  by 
the  other  we  do  not  know. 

M.  Fleury  has  made  an  elaborate  collec- 
tion of  the  passages  in  Seneca's  writings  which 
seem  to  be  Christian  in  tone.  Seneca's  rela- 

1  Zeller,  The  Stoics,  Epicureans,  and  Sceptics,  p.  219. 

1 60 


SENECA 

tion  to  Christianity  has  been  exhaustively 
treated  by  Aubertin,1  and  a  carefully  selected 
list  of  parallel  passages  is  given  by  Bishop 
Lightfoot,  in  an  essay  in  his  treatise  on  the 
"Epistle  to  the  Philippians." 

There  are  many  striking  resemblances  be- 
tween Seneca  and  St.  Paul,  and  we  even  find 
traces  of  some  of  the  best  known  parables  of 
Christ,  as  of  the  sower,  and  the  rich  fool,  and 
the  debtor,  and  the  talents  out  at  usury.  He 
speaks  of  the  house  built  upon  the  rock  ;  of 
life  regarded  as  a  warfare  and  a  pilgrimage ; 
of  the  athlete's  crown  of  victory;  of  hypocrites 
like  whited  walls,  etc. 

Seneca  was  very  urgent  that  there  should 
be  a  framework  of  general  theory,  which  would 
serve  as  a  rule  of  life.  The  mass  of  men,  he 
says,  are  weak,  irresolute,  passionate,  and 
forgetful,  soon  blinded  by  sophistry,  or  led 
astray  by  bad  example.  The  world  in  which 
they  live  is  full  of  specious  falsehoods  and 
misleading  maxims.  They  need,  therefore, 
the  help,  the  sympathy,  the  guidance  of  a  liv- 
ing rule,  a  voice  that  can  speak  with  some 

1  Seneque  et  St.  Paul. 

161 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

authority  to  heart  and  conscience,  friendly 
counsel,  proverbial  maxims  or  striking  illus- 
trations, which  would  tend  to  implant  the 
right  convictions  in  the  mind. 

Says  Seneca,  God  dwells  not  in  temples  of 
wood  or  stone,  nor  waits  the  ministrations 
of  human  hands;  that  he  has  no  delight  in 
the  blood  of  victims ;  that  he  is  near  to  all 
his  creatures;  that  his  spirit  resides  in  men's 
hearts;  that  all  men  are  truly  his  offspring; 
that  we  are  members  of  one  body,  which  is 
God  or  nature;  that  men  must  believe  in  God 
before  they  can  approach  him ;  that  the  true 
service  of  God  is  to  be  like  unto  him ;  that 
all  men  have  sinned,  and  none  performed  all 
the  works  of  the  law ;  that  God  is  no  respect- 
er of  nations,  ranks,  or  conditions,  but  all, 
barbarian,  and  Roman,  bond  and  free,  are 
alike  under  his  all-seeing  providence. 


162 


XI 
MARCUS  AURELIUS 

MARCUS  AURELIUS  and  Epictetus  have 
been  considered  to  be  the  real  heroes  of  the 
Stoicism  of  which  Seneca  was  only  the  elegant 
preacher,  for  they  both  conformed  their  lives 
to  their  teaching.  Kendall  has  shown  that 
Epictetus  is  the  teacher  to  whom  Marcus 
Aurelius  is  most  allied  —  in  age,  in  doctrine, 
and  in  scope  of  thought.  Says  Kendall :  — 

"  In  the  emphasis,  as  well  as  in  the  sub- 
stance, of  their  teaching  there  is  a  close  re- 
semblance; their  psychology  and  their  episte- 
mology  agree  ;  they  insist  on  the  same  main 
ethical  dogmas  ;  they  take  the  same  attitude 
towards  abstract  dialectic,  and  to  rival  schools 
of  philosophy  — Cynic,  Epicurean,  or  Sceptic. 
In  their  concentration  upon  practical  ethics, 
their  recurrence  to  Socratic  formulas,  their 
abandonment  of  Stoic  arrogations  of  certitude 
and  indefectibility,  their  extension  and  en- 

163 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

forcement  of  social  obligation,  their  ethical 
realization  of  the  omnipresent  immanence  of 
God,  they  occupy  the  same  position  towards 
Stoicism."1 

Marcus  Aurelius  was  by  no  means  so  deep 
or  so  strong  a  thinker  as  Epictetus,  but  he 
was  one  of  the  purest,  gentlest,  and  most 
conscientious  of  men.  His  innate  benevo- 
lence of  heart  served  to  chasten  the  severity 
of  the  pure  Stoic  system.  Niebuhr  says  that 
it  is  more  delightful  to  speak  of  him  than 
of  any  man  in  history,  and  "  if  there  is  any 
sublime  virtue,  it  is  his."  He  adds:  "He 
was  certainly  the  noblest  character  of  his 
time  ;  and  I  know  of  no  other  man  who  com- 
bined such  unaffected  kindness,  mildness,  and 
humility  with  such  conscientiousness  and  se- 
verity towards  himself." 

Nearly  five  hundred  years  before  Marcus 
Aurelius,  Pythagoras  had  taught  the  benefit 
and  necessity  of  self-inquiry.  Night  and 
morning  he  prescribed  for  himself  and  his 
followers  an  examination.  At  these  times  es- 
pecially was  it  meet  to  take  account  of  our 

1  Rendall,  Marcus  Aurelius  to  Himself,  ex. 

164 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 

soul  and  its  doings ;  in  the  evening  to  ask, 
"Wherein  have  I  transgressed?  what  done? 
what  failed  to  do  ? '  In  the  morning, c<  What 
must  I  do  ?  wherein  repair  past  days'  forget- 
fulness  ? '  Socrates  pressed  this  introspection 
upon  his  followers  and  taught  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  every  man  to  know  himself.  Know 
thyself,  that  is,  to  realize  thyself;  by  obedi- 
ence and  self-control  come  to  thy  full  stature ; 
be  in  fact  what  you  are  in  possibility ;  satisfy 
yourself,  in  the  only  way  in  which  true  self- 
satisfaction  is  possible,  by  realizing  in  your- 
self the  law  which  constitutes  your  real  being. 
This  introspection  occupied  the  attention  of 
many  philosophers.  Men  were  searching  into 
their  relations  with  each  other,  their  duties  to 
each  other,  with  the  idea  to  inspire  them,  that 
brotherhood,  love  and  kindness,  and  not  en- 
mity, was  the  normal  relation  to  mankind. 

With  Marcus  Aurelius,  his  whole  life  was 
given  to  self-inquiry.  There  was  in  him  a  cer- 
tain childlike  piety  which  he  owed,  not  en- 
tirely to  Stoicism,  but,  as  he  says,  to  the 
influence  of  a  pious  mother  on  his  education. 
He  often  speaks  not  only  of  contentment, 

165 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN   STOICISM 

but  of  joy  in  God,  and  in  all  the  mercies  with 
which  he  crowned  his  life.  He  is  confident 
that  all  the  woes  and  wrongs  of  life,  and  even 
death  itself,  cannot  be  evils,  since  God  allows 
them  to  exist  within  the  sphere  of  his  be- 
nign and  righteous  reign.  One  of  his  rules 
was  to  fix  his  thoughts  as  much  as  possible 
on  the  virtues  of  others,  rather  than  on  their 
vices.  "  When  thou  wishest  to  delight  thy- 
self, think  of  the  virtues  of  those  who  live 
with  thee  — the  activity  of  one,  the  modesty 
of  another,  the  liberality  of  a  third,  and  some 
other  good  quality  of  a  fourth." 

Says  Marcus  Aurelius,  "  Men  exist  for  the 
sake  of  one  another.  Teach  them  or  bear  with 
them."  "The  best  way  of  avenging  thyself  is 
not  to  become  like  the  wrongdoer."  "If  any 
man  has  done  wrong,  the  harm  is  his  own.  But 
perhaps  he  has  not  done  wrong."  "  Believe 
that  men  are  your  brethren  and  you  will  love 
them." 

Marcus  Aurelius  taught  that  our  fellow 
men  ought  to  be  loved  from  the  heart.  They 
ought  to  be  benefited,  not  for  the  sake  of 
outward  decency,  but  because  the  benefactor 

1 66 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 

is  penetrated  with  the  joy  of  benevolence,  and 
thereby  benefits  himself.  Whatever  hinders 
union  with  others  has  a  tendency  to  separate 
the  members  from  the  body,  from  which  all 
derive  their  life ;  and  he  who  estranges  himself 
from  one  of  his  fellow  men  voluntarily  severs 
himself  from  the  stock  of  mankind. 

"  If  any  one  can  show  me  that  I  do  not 
think  or  act  correctly,  I  will  change  gladly, 
for  I  seek  the  truth,  by  which  no  one  was 
ever  harmed."  "  It  is  not  right  that  I  should 
give  myself  pain,  for  I  have  never  given  it 
willingly  to  another."  "  It  is  a  great  thing  to 
live  in  truth  and  justice,  with  kind  feelings 
even  to  the  lying  and  unjust."  "  He  who 
wrongs  me  is  my  kinsman  in  unity  of  the 
spirit  and  divine  sonship,  and  I  cannot  be 
angry  with  my  brother."  "  Let  me  remember 
that  men  exist  for  each  other,  and  that  they 
do  wrong  unwillingly."  "  It  is  peculiarly  hu- 
man to  love  even  those  who  do  wrong." 
When  asked  if  he  had  seen  the  gods  or  had 
learned  of  their  existence,  Aurelius  replied, 
"  I  have  never  seen  any  soul,  and  yet  I  treat 
it  with  reverence  ;  so,  also,  when  I  constantly 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

experience  the  power  of  the  gods,  I  learn  to 
recognize  their  existence,  and  I  honor  them." 
Aurelius  realized  the  distinction  between  an 
outward  abstinence  from  evil,  and  a  true  in- 
ward holiness,  and  recognized  the  sinfulness 
of  all  mankind.  "  When  thou  seest  another 
sin,  think  that  thou  thyself  sinnest  sometimes, 
and  art  just  such  an  one  thyself.  And  even 
though  thou  abstainest  from  many  sins,  yet 
thou  hast  within  thee  the  inclination  to  such 
practices,  though  from  fear,  from  vanity,  or 
some  similar  disposition,  thou  avoidest  them." 
Aurelius  was  by  turns  the  accused,  the 
witness,  advocate  and  judge.  No  more  noble 
thoughts,  or  pure  and  lofty  spiritual  utter- 
ances have  issued  from  the  heathen  world.  He 
recognized  that  the  universe  is  wisely  ordered, 
that  every  man  is  part  of  it  or  must  conform 
to  that  order  which  he  cannot  change,  that 
whatever  the  Deity  has  done  is  good,  and 
that  all  mankind  are  brothers,  and  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  every  man  to  love  and  cherish 
his  brethren  and  try  to  make  them  better, 
even  those  who  would  do  him  harm.  It  was 
a  tenet  of  ancient  philosophy  that  the  life  of 

1 68 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 

the  wise  man  should  be  a  contemplation  of, 
and  a  preparation  for,  death. 

The  keynote  of  the  life  of  Aurelius  we 
find  in  his  saying,  "Since  it  is  possible  that 
thou  mayest  depart  from  life  this  very  mo- 
ment, regulate  every  act  and  thought  accord- 
ingly/' Aurelius  believed  that  life  is  the 
presence  of  God ;  the  course  of  the  world  is 
the  evolution  of  Providence ;  the  hand  of  the 
Deity  is  operative  everywhere ;  above  all  his 
voice  is  articulate  within  man's  self,  as  his  in- 
dwelling life  and  soul.  In  philosophy  sought 
for  and  found,  justice,  truth,  wisdom,  and 
courage,  lie  the  cardinal  virtues  of  Stoicism. 
Yet,  while  firmly  believing  in  the  tenets  of 
the  Stoics,  Aurelius  was  broad-minded,  and 
so  loved  freedom  of  thought,  that  he  made 
an  impartial  distribution  of  the  lectureships  in 
philosophy  among  the  four  great  schools,  so 
that  Platonists,  Aristotelians,  and  Epicureans 
were  paid  for  proclaiming  their  views. 

The  contemplative  Stoicism  of  Aurelius 
proceeded  from  philosophic  speculation,  and 
a  resignation  which  could  coolly  contemplate 
even  the  annihilation  of  our  personality ;  but 

169 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

he  had  no  sympathy  with  calmness  and  resig- 
nation that  arose  from  a  living  faith.  As 
Neander  says,  the  spirit  with  which  the  Chris- 
tian martyrs  met  death  and  even  sought  it, 
appeared  to  Aurelius  a  mere  delusion  of  en- 
thusiasm. Says  Aurelius,  "  The  soul  must  be 
prepared  when  it  must  leave  the  body,  either 
to  be  extinguished,  or  to  be  dissolved,  or  to 
remain  a  little  longer  with  the  body.  This 
readiness  must  proceed  from  free  choice,  and 
not  from  mere  obstinacy,  as  the  Christians ; 
and  it  must  also  be  the  result  of  contempla- 
tion, and  a  lofty  spirit,  without  any  theatrical 
effect,  so  that  a  man  should  be  able  to  per- 
suade another  to  the  same  course." 

While  Aurelius  was  one  of  the  most  be- 
nign, philanthropic,  and  conscientious  rulers 
who  ever  adorned  a  throne,  yet  in  his  reign 
the  Christians  were  subjected  to  persecutions 
more  severe  than  even  under  Nero.  He  could 
see  in  Christianity  only  a  "foolish  and  bound- 
less'1 superstition;  and  he  felt  compelled,  as 
Roman  emperor,  from  political  as  well  as  re- 
ligious motives,  to  protect  the  religion  of  the 
state  from  its  pronounced  enemies.  He  sought 

170 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 

to  base  the  stability  of  the  throne  on  a  rigid 
morality,  on  self-denial  and  self-sacrifice.  The 
educated  Romans  looked  with  disdain  upon  a 
doctrine  which  required  only  a  blind  belief; 
they  demanded  philosophical  grounds  for  what 
they  believed. 

Celsus,  the  first  writer  against  Christianity, 
a  broadly  and  philosophically  educated  schol- 
ar, and  a  friend  of  the  noted  satirist,  Lucian  of 
Samosata,  makes  it  a  matter  of  mockery,  that 
laborers,  shoemakers,  farmers,  and  the  more 
ignorant  class  of  men,  should  be  zealous 
preachers  of  the  Gospel,  and  that  they  chiefly 
addressed  themselves  to  slaves,  women,  and 
children.  A  strong  argument  of  Celsus  was, 
that  the  Christians  not  only  set  themselves  in 
opposition  to  the  religious  life  of  the  people, 
but  they  also  opposed  the  emperor  and  the 
empire.  A  ruler  there  must  be,  and  the  rule 
of  the  emperor  is  a  bulwark  against  the  threat- 
ening danger  of  the  barbarians,  on  the  frontier 
of  the  empire.  But  the  Christians,  by  seeking 
to  stand  separate,  striving  for  the  general 
supremacy  of  their  cause,  endangered  the 
existence  of  the  empire,  and  prevented  the 

171 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

execution  of  public  benefits,  which  can  be 
effected  only  under  a  strong  and  united  gov- 
ernment. In  the  interests  of  the  empire,  there- 
fore, and  of  public  order,  Christians  must  be 
made  to  submit  to  the  whole  community,  to 
serve  the  emperor,  to  assist  him  in  the  ruling 
of  the  empire,  and  to  protect  it,  thus  saving 
civilization  from  barbarism. 

Aurelius  saw  in  the  new  religion  an  im- 
moral superstition,  and  a  mysterious  politi- 
cal conspiracy  which  was  secretly  spreading 
throughout  the  empire,  and  that  it  con- 
demned the  prevalent  religion  in  the  strongest 
terms.  The  Christians  rejected  all  the  heathen 
ceremonies,  and  declared  that  all  the  heathen 
religions  were  false,  and  this  was  a  declaration 
of  hostility  against  the  Roman  government. 
Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill  draws  a  lesson  from 
the  course  taken  by  Aurelius,  a  most  striking 
warning  against  the  danger  of  interfering  with 
the  liberty  of  thought.  He  says:  — 

"  If  ever  any  one  possessed  of  power  had 
grounds  for  thinking  himself  the  best  and 
most  enlightened  among  his  contemporaries, 
it  was  the  emperor  Marcus  Aurelius.  Abso- 

172 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 

lute  monarch  of  the  whole  civilized  world,  he 
preserved  through  life  not  only  the  most  un- 
blemished justice,  but,  what  was  less  to  be 
expected  from  his  stoical  breeding,  the  ten- 
derest  heart.  The  few  failings  which  are  at- 
tributed to  him  were  all  on  the  side  of  indul- 
gence ;  while  his  writings,  the  highest  ethical 
product  of  the  ancient  mind,  differ  scarcely 
preceptibly,  if  they  differ  at  all,  from  the  most 
characteristic  teachings  of  Christ.  This  man, 
a  better  Christian,  in  all  but  the  dogmatic 
sense  of  the  word,  than  almost  any  of  the 
ostensibly  Christian  sovereigns  who  have 
since  reigned,  persecuted  Christianity.  Placed 
at  the  summit  of  all  the  previous  attainments 
of  humanity,  with  an  open,  unfettered  intel- 
lect, and  a  character  which  led  him,  of  him- 
self, to  embody  in  his  moral  writings  the 
Christian  ideal,  he  yet  failed  to  see  that  Chris- 
tianity was  to  be  a  good  and  not  an  evil  to 
the  world,  with  his  duties  to  which  he  was  so 
deeply  penetrated.  Existing  society  he  knew 
to  be  in  a  deplorable  state.  But  such  as  it  was, 
he  saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  that  it  was  held 
together,  and  prevented  from  being  worse,  by 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN   STOICISM 

belief  and  reverence  of  the  received  divinities. 
As  a  ruler  of  mankind,  he  deemed  it  his  duty 
not  to  suffer  society  to  fall  in  pieces,  and  saw 
not  how,  if  its  existing  ties  were  removed,  any 
others  could  be  formed  which  could  again 
knit  it  together.  The  new  religion  aimed 
openly  at  dissolving  these  ties;  unless,  there- 
fore, it  was  his  duty  to  adopt  that  religion,  it 
seemed  to  be  his  duty  to  put  it  down.  Inas- 
much, then,  as  the  theology  of  Christianity 
did  not  appear  to  him  true,  or  of  divine  origin 
— inasmuch  as  this  strange  history  of  a  cruci- 
fied God  was  not  credible  to  him,  and  a  sys- 
tem which  purported  to  rest  entirely  upon  a 
foundation  to  him  so  wholly  unbelievable, 
could  not  be  foreseen  by  him  to  be  that  reno- 
vating agency  which,  after  all  abatements,  it 
has  in  fact  proved  to  be,  the  gentlest  and  most 
amiable  of  philosophers  and  rulers,  under  a 
solemn  sense  of  duty,  authorized  the  perse- 
cution of  Christianity.  To  my  mind,  this  is 
one  of  the  most  tragical  facts  in  all  history. 
It  is  a  bitter  thought,  how  different  a  thing 
the  Christianity  of  the  world  might  have  been, 
if  the  Christian  faith  had  been  adopted  as  the 

174 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 

religion  of  the  empire,  under  the  auspices  of 
Marcus  Aurelius,  instead  of  those  of  Con- 
stantine.  But  it  is  equally  unjust  to  him,  and 
false  to  truth,  to  deny,  that  no  one  plea  which 
can  be  urged  for  punishing  anti-Christian 
teaching,  was  wanting  to  Marcus  Aurelius, 
for  punishing,  as  he  did,  the  propagation  of 
Christianity.  No  Christian  more  firmly  be- 
lieves that  atheism  is  false,  and  tends  to  the 
dissolution  of  society,  than  Marcus  Aurelius 
believed  the  same  things  of  Christianity ;  he 
who,  of  all  men  then  living,  might  have  been 
thought  the  most  capable  of  appreciating  it. 
Unless  any  one  who  approves  of  punishment 
for  the  promulgation  of  opinions,  flatters  him- 
self that  he  is  a  wiser  and  better  man  than 
Marcus  Aurelius  —  more  deeply  versed  in 
the  wisdom  of  his  time  —  more  elevated  in 
his  intellect  above  it  —  more  earnest  in  his 
search  for  truth,  or  more  single-minded  in  his 
devotion  to  it  when  found  —  let  him  abstain 
from  that  assumption  of  the  joint  infallibility 
of  himself  and  the  multitude,  which  the  great 
Aurelius  made  with  so  unfortunate  a  result/' 
Aurelius  speaks  of  the  Christians  as  obsti- 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

nate  fanatics  in  his  Meditations,  and  he  no 
doubt  accepted  the  current  prejudices  of  the 
ruling  classes,  and  neglected  to  look  deeper 
into  the  real  doctrines  of  the  church.  How- 
ever, he  remained  the  very  loftiest  expression 
of  that  purified  Stoicism  which  bordered  on 
Christianity  without  entering  its  territory  or 
taking  anything  from  it.  He  is  the  great  link 
or  connection  between  the  heathen  and  Chris- 
tian schools.  He  brought  heathenism  as  near 
as  in  its  strength  and  wisdom  it  could  come 
to  Christianity;  and  he  seems  to  carry  to  a 
higher  point  and  nearer  to  the  Christian  faith 
the  great  religious  ideas  which  formed  the 
basis  of  the  Roman  Stoic  school.  "It  seems," 
says  M.  Martha,  "that  in  him  the  philosophy 
of  heathendom  grows  less  proud,  draws  nearer 
and  nearer  to  a  Christianity  which  it  ignored, 
or  which  it  despised,  and  is  ready  to  fling  it- 
self into  the  arms  of  the  'Unknown  God/  In 
the  said  Meditations  of  Aurelius  we  find  a  pure 
serenity,  sweetness,  and  docility  to  the  com- 
mands of  God,  which  before  him  were  un- 
known, and  which  Christian  grace  has  alone 
surpassed.  If  he  has  not  yet  attained  to  charity 

176 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 

in  all  that  fullness  of  meaning  which  Christian- 
ity has  given  to  the  world,  he  has  already  gained 
its  unction,  and  one  cannot  read  his  book, 
unique  in  the  history  of  pagan  philosophy, 
without  thinking  of  the  sadness  of  Pascal  and 
the  gentleness  of  Fenelon.  We  must  pause 
before  this  soul,  so  lofty  and  so  pure,  to  con- 
template ancient  virtue  in  its  softest  brilliancy, 
to  see  the  moral  delicacy  to  which  profane 
doctrines  have  attained  —  how  they  laid  down 
their  pride,  and  how  penetrating  a  grace  they 
have  found  in  their  new  simplicity." 

Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus,  the  son-in- 
law  and  successor  of  Antoninus  Pius,  was  born 
April  25,  A.D.  121;  he  ascended  the  throne 
in  1 6 1,  and  died  March  17,  180.  He  came 
of  a  family  which  had  long  been  settled  in  the 
south  of  Spain,  and  which  was  summoned 
to  Rome  to  fill  the  highest  offices  of  the  state. 
The  father  of  Marcus  Aurelius  was  Annius 
Verus,  who  died  in  his  praetorship,  and  was 
descended  from  a  long  line  of  illustrious  men 
who  claimed  descent  from  Numa,  the  second 
King  of  Rome.  His  mother,  Domitia  Cal- 

1  Martha,  Les  Moralistes  sur  1' Empire  Remain. 

177 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

villa,  was  also  a  lady  of  consular  and  kingly 
race.  On  the  death  of  his  father,  Marcus 
Aurelius  was  adopted  by  his  grandfather, 
who  spared  no  pains  to  give  him  a  good 
education.  Aurelius  says  that  from  his  grand- 
father he  learned  good  morals  and  the  gov- 
ernment of  his  temper;  from  the  reputation 
and  remembrance  of  his  father,  modesty  and 
manliness ;  from  his  mother,  piety  and  benef- 
icence, and  abstinence  not  only  from  evil 
deeds,  but  even  from  evil  thoughts;  and, 
further,  simplicity  of  life  far  removed  from 
the  habits  of  the  rich. 

His  fine  qualities  early  attracted  the  notice 
of  the  emperor  Hadrian,  who  used  to  term 
him  Verissimus,  a  name  which  Aurelius  liked 
well  enough  in  later  years  to  have  it  put  at 
times  upon  the  coins  struck  in  his  mints. 
When  only  seventeen  years  of  age,  he  was 
adopted,  along  with  Lucius  C.  Commodus, 
by  Antoninus  Pius,  the  successor  of  Hadrian ; 
and  Faustina,  the  daughter  of  Pius,  was  se- 
lected for  his  wife.  In  the  year  140  A.D.  he 
was  made  consul;  and  from  this  period  to  the 
death  of  Pius,  in  161  A.D.,  he  continued  to 

178 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 

discharge  the  duties  of  his  various  offices  with 
the  greatest  promptitude  and  fidelity.  When 
Antoninus  Pius  was  chosen  by  Hadrian  as 
his  successor,  he  was  fifty-two  years  old,  and 
he  was  selected  on  the  express  condition  that 
he  should  in  turn  adopt  both  Marcus  Aure- 
lius  and  Commodus.  But  the  latter  had  so  far 
disgraced  himself  by  his  early  profligacy,  that 
his  adoptive  father  disinherited  him,  and  pro- 
curing the  nomination  of  Aurelius  as  sole 
successor  by  the  senate,  associated  him  with 
himself  in  the  empire.  On  his  accession,  how- 
ever, Aurelius,  who  now  assumed  the  name 
of  Antoninus,  gave  an  equal  share  of  the 
government  to  Commodus,  who  henceforth 
bore  the  name  of  Lucius  Aurelius  Verus,  and 
Rome  saw  for  the  first  time,  two  co-rulers 
share  between  them  on  an  equal  footing  all 
the  dignity  of  absolute  power. 

During  his  early  years,  before  ascending 
the  throne,  no  pains  were  spared  to  fit  Aure- 
lius for  his  high  station,  and  the  greatest 
teachers  of  his  day  took  part  in  his  instruc- 
tion. He  had  a  great  love  of  reading  taste  for 

o  o-7 

antiquities,  addiction  to  philosophy,  and  ex- 

179 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

treme  docility  of  temperament.  Like  many 
young  Romans  he  tried  his  hand  at  poetry 
and  studied  rhetoric.  Finally,  he  abandoned 
poetry  and  rhetoric  for  philosophy,  and  he 
attached  himself  to  the  sect  of  the  Stoics.  We 
learn  from  contemporary  sources,  that  "  from 
childhood  he  was  of  a  serious  cast";  that  his 
demeanor  was  that  of  "  a  courteous  gentleman, 
modest  and  strenuous,  grave  but  affable"; 
that  "he  never  changed  his  countenance  for 
grief  or  gladness/'  We  read  that  during  three 
and  twenty  years,  he  absented  himself  but  two 
nights  from  the  side  of  Antoninus  ;  he  never 
missed  a  meeting  of  the  senate,  or  left  before 
its  close ;  he  would  give  days  to  the  hearing 
of  a  single  case,  and  extended  the  days  of  as- 
size to  two  hundred  and  thirty  in  the  year. 

Aurelius  has  recorded  the  names  of  his 
teachers  and  the  obligations  which  he  owed 
to  each  of  them.  His  gratitude  to  them  was 
warm  and  profound.  This  sketch,  which  was 
written  during  one  of  his  campaigns,  forms 
the  first  book  of  his  Meditations,  and  is  char- 
acterized by  the  most  unaffected  simplicity 
and  modesty. 

1 80 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 

Of  his  teachers  Fronto  was  one  of  the  most 
famous.  Not  many  years  ago,  the  letters  which 
passed  between  Fronto  and  Aurelius  were 
found  in  an  old  manuscript,  over  which  an- 
other work  had  been  written.  From  Rusticus 
he  learned  that  his  character  required  improve- 
ment and  discipline,  and  many  other  things, 
among  them,  to  abstain  from  fine  writing ; 
and  he  made  him  acquainted  with  the  memoirs 
of  Epictetus.  Says  he,  "  From  Rusticus,  I 
first  conceived  the  need  of  moral  correction 
and  amendment ;  renounced  sophistic  ambi- 
tions and  essays  on  philosophy,  discourses 
provocative  of  virtue,  or  fancy  portraiture  of 
the  sage  or  the  philanthropist ;  learned  to 
eschew  rhetoric  and  poetry  and  fine  language." 
He  gave  in  after  years  to  Rusticus  the  credit 
of  his  conversion  from  letters  to  philosophy. 
"It  was  he  who  made  me  feel  how  much  I 
needed  to  reform  and  train  my  character.  He 
warned  me  from  the  treacherous  paths  of 
sophistry,  from  formal  speeches  of  parade 
which  aim  at  nothing  higher  than  applause. 
Thanks  to  him  I  am  weaned  from  rhetoric 
and  poetry,  from  affected  elegance  of  style, 

181 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

and  can  write  now  with  simplicity.  From  him 
I  have  learned  to  concentrate  my  thoughts 
on  serious  study,  and  not  to  be  surprised  into 
agreeing  with  all  the  random  utterance  of 
fluent  speech." 

Diognetus,  Bacchius,  Tandasis,  and  Mar- 
cianus  were  his  chief  instructors  in  philosophy. 
Apollonius  taught  him  freedom  of  will  and 
undeviating  steadiness  of  purpose,  and  to  look 
to  nothing  else,  not  even  for  a  moment,  ex- 
cept to  reason.  He  taught  how  to  receive 
factitious  favors,  without  either  sacrifice  of 
self-respect  or  churlish  regard.  Then  follow 
Alexander  the  Platonist,  and  Catulus,  and  his 
brother  Severus,  with  Thrasea,  Helvidius, 
Cato,  Dion,  and  Bentus,  from  whose  lives 
and  recorded  words  he  learned  "  the  idea  of 
polity  in  which  there  is  the  same  law  for  all, 
a  polity  administered  with  regard  to  equal 
rights  and  equal  freedom  of  speech,  and  the 
idea  of  a  kingly  government  which  respects 
most  of  all  the  freedom  of  the  governed."  And 
so  on  through  a  long  list  of  instructors,  with 
a  methodical  account  of  what  he  learned  from 
each. 

182 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 

Marcus  Aurelius  was  in  very  poor  physical 
health  from  his  boyhood,  and  was  strained  by 
overwork,  and  in  later  life  his  power  of  diges- 
tion and  sleep  wholly  gave  way.  His  private 
life  was  one  of  extreme  simplicity.  His  only 
pleasure  was  in  books  and  meditation,  and  in 
his  family  relations.  He  was  one  of  the  gen- 
tlest, purest,  and  most  conscientious  of  men. 
Yet  by  the  irony  of  fate,  after  Aurelius  had 
become  emperor,  he  led  a  most  strenuous 
life.  His  delight  was  meditation,  yet  the  best 
years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  the  turmoil  of 
camp  life.  To  the  gentle  heart  of  Aurelius, 
all  war,  even  when  accompanied  with  victories, 
was  extremely  distasteful.  The  surroundings 
and  associates  of  war  were  harsh  and  uncon- 
genial, yet  his  presence  was  necessary  with 
the  legions. 

Soon  after  his  accession  to  the  throne  an 
inundation  of  the  Tiber  caused  great  ruin 
and  distress  which  ended  in  a  widespread 
famine.  Then  came  the  horrors  of  war  and 
rumors  of  war.  First  came  the  Parthian  war, 
in  which  Verus  was  sent  to  command,  but  he 
did  nothing.  The  Parthians  defeated  and  all 

183 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

but  destroyed  the  Roman  army,  and  devas- 
tated with  impunity  the  Roman  province  of 
Syria.  What  little  success  the  Romans  had  was 
not  due  to  Verus,  but  to  other  Roman  gen- 
erals, but  Verus  took  all  the  credit.  The  north 
of  Italy  was  threatened  by  the  rude  people 
beyond  the  Alps,  and  many  years  were  spent 
by  Aurelius  in  driving  back  the  invaders.  A 
formidable  insurrection  had  long  been  pre- 
paring in  the  German  provinces ;  the  Britons 
were  on  the  point  of  revolt,  and  the  Catti  were 
waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  devastate  the 
Rhenish  provinces.  Aurelius  spent  five  years 
in  the  north,  without  ever  returning  to  Rome, 
enduring  the  greatest  hardships  with  the  se- 
renity of  a  philosopher.  But  the  constant 
struggle  to  preserve  his  dominions  from  hos- 
tile invaders,  and  the  hardships  of  camp  life, 
undermined  his  originally  weak  condition, 
shattered  by  perpetual  anxiety  and  fatigue, 
and  he  died,  it  is  supposed,  in  Vienna,  the 
then  Sirmium,  on  the  seventeenth  of  March, 
A.D.  1 80,  in  his  fifty-ninth  year,  after  a  reign 
of  twenty  years,  the  greater  part  of  which  was 
spent  in  the  most  uncongenial  work,  amid 

184 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 

the  tumults  of  perpetual  war,  and  the  distrac- 
tion necessarily  arising  from  the  government 
of  so  vast  an  empire.  As  a  writer  has  said : 
"The  man  who  loved  peace  with  his  whole 
soul,  died  without  beholding  it,  and  yet  the 
everlasting  presence  of  war  never  tempted 
him  to  sink  into  a  mere  warrior.  He  main- 
tained uncorrupted  to  the  end  of  his  noble 
life,  his  philosophic  and  philanthropic  aspira- 
tions. After  his  decease,  which  was  felt  to  be 
a  national  calamity,  every  Roman  citizen,  and 
many  others  in  distant  portions  of  the  empire, 
procured  an  image  or  statue  of  him,  which 
more  than  a  hundred  years  after  was  still 
found  among  their  household  gods." 

It  was  during  his  camp  life,  surrounded  by 
uncongenial  associates,  that  Aurelius  wrote 
down  his  thoughts,  or  reflections,  which  have 
come  down  to  us  as  his  Meditations.  They 
were  written,  not  for  effect  like  Seneca,  not 
for  instruction  like  Epictetus,  but  only  for  re- 
lief of  sleeplessness  and  solitude,  and  for  no 
eye  but  his  own.  Hence  the  brief,  uncon- 
nected and  paragraphic  form,  wherein  his 
Meditations  have  come  down  to  us.  They  are 

185 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

a  collection  of  maxims  and  reflections  in  the 
spirit  of  the  Stoic  philosophy,  which,  with- 
out much  connection  or  skill  in  composition, 
breathe  the  purest  sentiments  of  piety  and 
benevolence;  "yet  the  centuries  still  turn  to 
him  for  wisdom;  and  the  thoughts  remain 
imperishable,  dignifying  duty,  shaming  weak- 
ness, and  rebuking  discontent."  Nowhere  else 
is  the  morality  of  paganism  couched  in  so  pure 
and  high  and  reverent  a  spirit,  and  the  Medi- 
tations form,  as  it  were,  an  indispensable  sup- 
plement to  Holy  Writ. 

Matthew  Arnold  calls  Aurelius  "  perhaps 
the  most  beautiful  figure  in  history/'  Lecky 
says  that  he  was  "the  purest  and  gentlest 
spirit  of  all  the  pagan  world."  Says  Montes- 
quieu, "If  there  is  any  sublime  virtue  it  is 
his.  I  know  no  other  man  who  combined 
such  unaffected  kindness,  mildness  and  hu- 
mility with  such  conscientiousness  and  sever- 
ity toward  himself."  Taine  pronounces  him 
"the  noblest  soul  that  ever  lived."  Says  Dr. 
Lightfoot,  "As  Epictetus  gives  a  higher  tone 
to  the  theology  of  the  Stoic  school,  so  the 
writings  of  M.  Aurelius  manifest  an  improve- 

186 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 

ment  in  its  ethical  teaching.  ...  As  a  con- 
scious witness  of  God  and  a  stern  preacher 
of  righteousness,  the  Phrygian  slave  holds  a 
higher  place :  but  as  a  kindly  philanthropist, 
conscientiously  alive  to  the  claims  of  all  men 
far  and  near,  the  Roman  emperor  commands 
deeper  respect.  His  natural  disposition  soft- 
ened the  harsher  features  of  Stoical  ethics. 
The  brooding  melancholy  and  the  almost 
feminine  tenderness  are  a  marked  contrast  to 
the  hard  outlines  in  the  portraiture  of  the 
older  Stoics.' 


187 


XII 
SELECTIONS  FROM  EPICTETUS1 

i .  The  imitation  of  God. 

IT  is  not  enough  simply  to  wish  to  be  hon- 
orable and  good;  it  is  necessary  besides  to  be 
instructed  in  certain  points;  we  must  inquire 
accordingly,  what  these  are. 

The  philosophers  tell  us  that  before  all 
things  it  is  necessary  to  learn  that  God  is,  and 
that  he  provides  for  all  things,  and  that  from 
him  nothing  can  be  hid  —  not  deeds  only,  but 
even  thoughts  and  purposes.  Next  must  be 
learned  of  what  nature  the  gods  are;  for  such 
as  they  are  found  to  be,  he  who  would  please 
and  obey  them  must  endeavor  with  all  his 
might  to  become  like  unto  them.  If,  e.g.,  the 
Divine  be  faithful,  so  must  he  be  faithful ;  if 
free,  so  must  he  be  free;  if  beneficent,  so  must 
he  be  beneficent;  if  high  minded,  so  must  he 

Selections  from  the  "Encheiridion,"  " Dissertations' 
and  "Fragments"  of  Epictetus. 

188 


SELECTIONS— EPICTETUS 

do  all  such   things  as  are  agreeable   to  the 

same. 

2.  Divine  government  of  the  world. 

We  conduct  ourselves  in  the  assembly  of 
life  much  as  people  do  at  a  fair.  Beasts  are 
brought  to  be  sold,  and  oxen ;  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  men  come  to  buy  and  sell,  and 
there  are  some  few  who  come  to  look  at  the 
market  and  to  inquire  how  it  is  carried  on, 
and  why,  and  who  fixes  the  meeting  and  for 
what  purpose.  So  it  is  here  also  in  this  as- 
sembly (of  life) :  some,  like  cattle,  trouble 
themselves  about  nothing  except  their  fodder. 
For  to  all  of  you  who  are  busy  about  posses- 
sions and  lands  and  slaves  and  magisterial  of- 
fices, these  are  nothing  except  fodder.  But 
there  are  a  few  who  attend  the  fair,  men  who 
love  to  look  on  and  consider  what  is  the 
world,  who  governs  it.  Has  it  no  governor? 
And  how  is  it  possible  that  a  city  or  a  family 
cannot  continue  to  exist,  not  even  the  short- 
est time  without  an  administrator  and  guar- 
dian, and  that  so  great  and  beautiful  a  system 
should  be  administered  with  such  order  and 
yet  without  a  purpose  and  by  chance  ?  There 

189 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

is  then  an  administrator.  What  kind  of  ad- 
ministrator and  how  does  he  govern  ?  And 
who  are  we,  who  were  produced  by  him,  and 
for  what  purpose  ?  Have  we  some  connection 
with  him  and  some  relation  towards  him,  or 
none  ?  This  is  the  way  in  which  these  few  are 
affected,  and  then  they  apply  themselves  only 
to  this  one  thing,  to  examine  the  meeting  and 
then  to  go  away.  What  then  ?  They  are  rid- 
iculed by  the  many,  as  the  spectators  at  the 
fair  are  by  the  traders;  and  if  the  beasts  had 
any  understanding,  they  would  ridicule  those 
who  admired  anything  else  than  fodder. 

3 .   'The  providence  of  God. 

Concerning  the  gods,  there  are  some  who 
say  that  a  Divine  Being  does  not  exist ;  and 
others,  that  it  exists  indeed,  but  is  idle  and 
uncaring,  and  hath  no  forethought  for  any- 
thing; and  a  third  class  say  that  there  is  such 
a  Being,  and  he  taketh  forethought  also,  but 
only  in  respect  of  great  and  heavenly  things, 
but  of  nothing  that  is  on  the  earth ;  and  a 
fourth  class,  that  he  taketh  thought  of  things 
both  in  heaven  and  earth,  but  only  in  general, 

190 


SELECTIONS— EPICTETUS 

and  not  of  each  thing  severally.  And  there 
is  a  fifth  class,  whereof  are  Odysseus  and 
Socrates,  who  say,  Nor  can  I  move  without 
thy  knowledge. 

Before  all  things,  then,  it  is  necessary  to 
investigate  each  of  these  opinions,  whether  it 
be  justly  affirmed  or  no.  For  if  there  be  no 
gods,  how  can  the  following  of  the  gods  be 
an  end  ?  And  if  there  are  gods,  but  such  as 
take  no  care  for  anything,  then,  also,  how  can 
the  following  of  them  be  truly  an  end  ?  And 
how,  again,  if  the  gods  both  exist  and  take 
care  for  things,  yet  if  there  be  no  communi- 
cation from  them  to  men,  aye,  and  by  heaven, 
and  even  to  mine  own  self?  The  wise  and 
good  man,  having  investigated  all  these  things, 
will  submit  his  own  mind  to  him  that  gov- 
erneth  the  universe,  even  as  good  citizens  to 
the  laws  of  their  state. 

4.    Omniscience  and  omnipotence  of  God. 

On  being  asked  how  we  could  be  convinced 
that  everything  done  is  observed  by  God, 
Epictetus  replied  :  Do  you  not  believe  that 
all  things  in  the  universe  are  united  in  one? 

191 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

Yes!  said  the  other.  Well,  then,  do  you  not 
think  that  there  must  be  a  sympathy  between 
the  things  of  earth  and  those  of  heaven  ?  I 
do,  said  he.  For  how  else  do  plants,  as  if  at 
the  command  of  God,  when  he  bids  them, 
flower  in  due  season?  and  shoot  forth  when 
he  bids  them  shoot,  and  bear  fruit  when  he 
bids  them  bear  ?  and  ripen  when  he  bids  them 
ripen  ?  and  again  they  drop  their  fruit  when 
he  bids  them  drop  it,  and  shed  their  leaves 
when  he  bids  them  shed  them  ?  and  how  else 
at  his  bidding  do  they  fold  themselves  to- 
gether, and  remain  motionless  and  at  rest? 
and  how  else  at  the  waxing  and  waning  of  the 
moon,  and  the  approach  and  withdrawal  of 
the  sun,  do  we  behold  such  a  change  and  re- 
versal in  earthly  things  ?  But  are  the  plants 
and  our  bodies  so  bound  up  in  the  whole, 
and  have  sympathy  with  it,  and  are  our  spirits 
not  much  more  so  ?  And  our  souls  being  thus 
bound  up  and  in  touch  with  God,  seeing,  in- 
deed, that  they  are  portions  and  fragments 
of  him,  shall  not  every  movement  of  them, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  something  inward  and  akin 
to  God,  be  perceived  by  him  ?  But  you  are 

192 


SELECTIONS—  EPICTETUS 

able  to  meditate  upon  the  divine  government, 
and  upon  all  divine  and  all  human  affairs, 
and  to  be  affected  at  the  same  time  in  the 
senses  and  in  the  intellect  by  ten  thousand 
things,  and  at  the  same  time  to  assent  to 
some  and  dissent  to  others,  or  suspend  your 
judgment;  and  you  preserve  in  your  mind  so 
many  impressions  of  so  many  and  various 
things,  and  being  affected  by  them,  you  strike 
upon  ideas  similar  to  earlier  impressions,  and 
you  retain  many  different  arts,  and  memories 
of  ten  thousand  things ;  and  shall  not  God 
have  the  power  to  overlook  all  things,  and 
be  present  with  all,  and  have  a  certain  com- 
munication with  all  ?  But  is  the  sun  able  to 
illuminate  so  great  a  part  of  the  All,  and  to 
leave  so  little  without  light,  —  that  part, 
namely,  which  is  filled  with  the  shadow  of 
the  earth,  —  and  shall  he  who  made  the  sun, 
and  guideth  it  in  its  sphere, —  a  small  part  of 
him  beside  the  whole, — shall  he  not  be  capa- 
ble of  perceiving  all  things  ? 

But  I,  saith  the  man,  cannot  take  heed  of 
all  these  things  at  once.  And  who  said  you 
could  do  this  ?  that  you  had  equal  powers 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

with  God?  But,  nevertheless,  he  hath  placed 
at  every  man's  side  a  guardian,  the  genius  of 
each  man,  who  is  charged  to  watch  over  him, 
a  genius  that  cannot  sleep,  nor  be  deceived. 
To  what  greater  and  more  watchful  guardian 
could  he  have  committed  us  ?  So,  when  ye 
have  shut  the  doors,  and  made  darkness  in 
the  house,  remember  never  to  say  that  ye  are 
alone;  for  ye  are  not  alone,  but  God  is  there, 
and  your  genius  is  there;  and  what  need  have 
these  of  light  to  mark  what  ye  are  doing  ?  To 
this  God  it  were  fitting  also  that  ye  should 
swear  an  oath,  as  soldiers  do  to  Caesar.  But 
those  indeed  who  receive  pay  swear  to  prefer 
the  safety  of  Caesar  before  all  things  ;  but 
ye,  receiving  so  many  and  great  things,  will 
ye  not  swear?  Or  swearing,  will  ye  not  abide 
by  it?  And  what  shall  ye  swear?  Never  to  dis- 
obey, never  to  accuse,  never  to  blame  aught 
that  he  hath  given,  never  unwillingly  to  do 
or  suffer  any  necessary  thing.  Is  this  oath  like 
unto  that  other?  The  soldiers  swear  to  esteem 
no  other  man  before  Caesar;  ye  to  esteem 
yourselves  above  all. 


194 


SELECTIONS—  EPICTETUS 

5.   'The  great  Designer. 

From  everything  which  is  or  happens  in 
the  world,  it  is  easy  to  praise  Providence,  if  a 
man  possesses  these  two  qualities  —  the  faculty 
of  seeing  what  belongs  and  happens  to  all 
persons  and  things,  and  a  grateful  disposition. 
If  he  does  not  possess  these  two  qualities, 
one  man  will  not  see  the  use  of  things  which 
are  and  which  happen ;  another  will  not  be 
thankful  for  them,  even  if  he  does  know  them. 
If  God  had  made  colors,  but  had  not  made 
the  faculty  of  seeing  them,  what  would  have 
been  their  use  ?  None  at  all.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  he  had  made  the  faculty  of  vision, 
but  had  not  made  objects  such  as  to  fall  under 
the  faculty,  what  in  that  case  also  would  have 
been  the  use  of  it  ?  None  at  all.  Well,  sup- 
pose that  he  had  made  both,  but  had  not 
made  light?  In  that  case,  also,  they  would 
have  been  of  no  use.  Who  is  it,  then,  who  has 
fitted  this  to  that  and  that  to  this  ?  And  who 
is  it  that  has  fitted  the  knife  to  the  case  and 
the  case  to  the  knife  ?  Is  it  no  one  ?  And,  in- 
deed, from  the  very  structure  of  things  which 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

have  attained  their  completion,  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  show  that  the  work  is  certainly  the 
act  of  some  artificer,  and  that  it  has  not  been 
constructed  without  a  purpose.  Does,  then, 
each  of  these  things  demonstrate  the  work- 
man, and  do  not  visible  things  and  the  faculty 
of  seeing  and  light  demonstrate  him  ?  If  they 
do  not,  let  us  consider  the  constitution  of  our 
understanding  according  to  which,  when  we 
meet  with  sensible  objects,  we  do  not  simply 
receive  impressions  from  them,  but  we  also 
select  something  from  them,  and  subtract 
something,  and  add,  and  compound  by  means 
of  them  these  things  or  those,  and,  in  fact, 
pass  from  some  to  other  things  which,  in  a 
manner,  resemble  them;  is  not  even  this  suf- 
ficient to  move  some  men,  and  to  induce  them 
not  to  forget  the  workman?  If  not  so,  let 
them  explain  to  us  what  it  is  that  makes  each 
several  thing,  or  how  it  is  possible  that  things 
so  wonderful  and  like  the  contrivances  of  art 
should  exist  by  chance  and  from  their  own 
proper  motion. 


196 


SELECTIONS — EPICTETUS 

6.  Man  more  than  animal. 

We  have  several  points  in  common  with 
the  animals.  Use  is  one  thing,  observation  is 
another.  God  requires  of  the  animals  that 
they  should  simply  use  and  submit  to  objects 
of  sense ;  of  us  that  we  should  observe  and 
investigate  these.  Consequently  for  them  it 
is  enough  to  eat  and  drink  and  rest  and 
breed,  and  whatever  else  each  of  them  per- 
forms ;  but  for  us,  who  have  been  further  en- 
dowed with  the  faculty  of  observation,  these 
things  are  not  enough.  .  .  . 

Man  has  been  brought  into  the  world  by 
God  to  contemplate  him  and  his  works,  and 
not  only  to  contemplate  these,  but  to  inter- 
pret them.  And,  therefore,  it  is  a  shame  for 
man  to  begin  and  end  where  do  the  animals; 
it  is  his  business  rather  to  begin  from  the 
point  they  end  at,  and  to  end  only  where 
Nature  in  our  case  ends — namely,  with  con- 
templation and  study  and  a  life  in  harmony 
with  herself.  Take  heed,  then,  that  ye  die  not 
without  having  considered  these  things. 


197 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

7.  Man  equal  to  his  fortune. 

Come,  then,  do  you  also  having  observed 
these  things  look  to  the  faculties  which  you 
have,  and  when  you  have  looked  at  them,  say : 
Bring  now,  O  Zeus,  any  difficulty  that  thou 
pleasest,  for  I  have  means  given  me  by  thee 
and  the  powers  for  honoring  myself  through 
the  things  which  happen.  You  do  not  so ;  but 
you  sit  still,  trembling  with  fear  that  some 
things  will  happen,  and  weeping,  and  lament- 
ing, and  groaning  for  what  does  happen  ;  and 
then  you  blame  the  gods ;  for  cowardice  of 
this  kind  is  sure  to  be  followed  by  impiety. 
And  yet  God  not  only  bestowed  on  us  such 
faculties  to  bear  all  that  may  happen  without 
being  depressed  or  crushed  by  it ;  but,  like  a 
good  king  and  true  father,  accompanied  his 
gift  with  no  hindrance,  compulsion  or  re- 
straint, but  put  it  all  in  our  own  hands,  not 
even  reserving  to  himself  any  power  to  pre- 
vent or  impede  its  use.  And  yet  with  such 
means  at  their  free  disposal,  men  do  not  use 
them,  do  not  realize  what  they  have  received, 
and  from  whose  hands  ;  but  they  sit  moaning 

198 


SELECTIONS— EPICTETUS 

and  groaning,  some  quite  blind  as  regards  the 
giver,  and  not  recognizing  their  benefactor  ; 
while  others  are  sordid  enough  to  resort  to 
complaints  and  accusations  against  God.  Yet, 
while  I  can  show  that  we  have  been  fitted  and 
fashioned  to  exercise  courage  and  high  minded- 
ness,  what  proof  can  you  show  me  that  we  were 
constituted  to  complain  and  reproach. 

8.   The  praise  of  God. 

Are  these  the  only  works  of  Providence  in 
us?  —  but  what  may  suffice  to  rightly  praise 
and  tell  them?  For  had  we  understanding 
thereof,  would  any  other  thing  better  beseem 
us,  either  in  company  or  alone,  than  to  hymn 
the  Divine  Being,  and  laud  him  and  rehearse 
his  gracious  deeds?  Should  we  not,  as  we 
dig  or  plough  or  eat,  sing  this  hymn  to  God. 
Great  is  God  who  hath  given  us  such  instru- 
ments whereby  we  shall  till  the  earth;  great 
is  God,  who  hath  given  us  hands,  and  swal- 
lowing, and  a  stomach;  who  maketh  us  to 
grow  without  our  knowledge,  and  to  breathe 
while  we  sleep.  These  things  it  were  fitting 
that  every  man  should  sing,  and  to  chant  the 

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GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

greatest  and  divinest  hymns  for  this,  that  he 
hath  given  us  the  power  to  observe  and  con- 
sider his  works  and  a  way  of  life  to  follow. 
What  then  ?  Since  the  most  of  you  have  be- 
come blind,  should  there  not  be  one  to  fill 
this  place,  and  in  the  name  of  all  to  sing  this 
hymn  to  God?  For  what  else  can  I  do,  an 
old  man  and  lame,  than  sing  hymns  to  God? 
If  I  were  a  nightingale  I  would  do  after  the 
nature  of  a  nightingale ;  if  a  swan,  after  that 
of  a  swan.  But  now  I  am  a  reasoning  creature 
and  it  behooves  me  to  sing  the  praise  of  God: 
this  is  my  task,  and  this  I  do,  nor,  as  long 
as  it  is  granted  me,  will  I  ever  abandon  this 
post.  And  you,  too,  I  summon  to  join  me 
in  the  same  song. 

9.   God's  care  of  individuals. 

Is  any  good  man  afraid  lest  means  of  sus- 
tenance should  fail  him  ?  But  they  do  not  fail 
the  blind  and  the  lame,  and  are  they  likely 
to  fail  the  virtuous?  The  good  soldier  never 
wants  for  some  one  to  pay  him ;  neither  does 
the  laborer,  nor  shoemaker,  and  yet  shall  the 
good  man  want  for  such?  What!  Is  God  so 


200 


SELECTIONS— EPICTETUS 

indifferent  to  his  instruments,  his  ministers, 
his  witnesses,  whom  alone  he  employs  as 
living  proofs  to  the  ignorant,  that  he  not 
only  exists,  but  governs  all  things  well,  and 
never  neglects  the  interest  of  man,  and  that 
to  the  virtuous,  whether  living  or  dead,  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  evil.  Well,  but  how,  sup- 
posing that  he  does  not  give  me  food?  Is 
not  this,  however,  just  what  a  good  general 
does,  when  he  gives  me  the  signal  for  retreat? 

I  obey,  I  follow,  all  the  while  praising  my 
commander,  and  singing  his  deeds. 

For,  as  I  came  into  the  world  when  he 
pleased,  so  again  when  it  pleases  him,  I  de- 
part. And  so  long  as  I  lived,  it  was  my  busi- 
ness to  sing  praises  unto  God,  both  by  myself 
and  with  individuals,  and  in  the  presence  of 

many. 

10.  His  real  presence  in  man. 

You,  O  man,  are  God's  chief  work  —  thou 
art  a  part  of  God,  thou  hast  in  thee  something 
that  is  a  portion  of  him.  Why,  then,  art  thou 
ignorant  of  thy  high  ancestry?  Why  knowest 
thou  not  whence  thou  earnest?  Wilt  thou  not 
remember,  in  thine  eating,  who  it  is  that  eats, 

2OI 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

and  whom  thou  dost  nourish?  In  society,  in 
exercise,  in  debate,  do  you  not  know  that  it 
is  God  you  keep,  exert,  and  bear  about  with 
you,  although,  unhappy  man,  you  are  uncon- 
scious of  it.  Thinkest  thou  I  speak  of  some 
god  of  gold  and  silver,  and  external  to  thee  ? 
Nay,  but  in  thyself  thou  dost  bear  him,  and 
seest  not  that  thou  defilest  him  with  thine 
impure  thoughts  and  filthy  deeds.  In  the 
presence  even  of  an  image  of  God  thou  hadst 
not  dared  to  do  one  of  those  things  which 
thou  doest.  But  in  the  presence  of  God  him- 
self within  thee,  who  seeth  and  heareth  all 
things,  thou  art  not  ashamed  of  the  things 
thou  dost  both  desire  and  do.  O  thou  unwit- 
ting of  thine  own  nature,  and  subject  to  the 
wrath  of  God. 

1 1 .  Man  s  sonship  and  brotherhood. 

Next,  remember  that  you  are  a  son.  What 
is  the  profession  answering  to  this  character? 
To  consider  everything  of  his  as  belonging 
to  a  father,  to  obey  him  in  all  things,  never 
to  complain  of  him  to  any  one,  never  to  say 
or  do  anything  injurious  to  him,  to  yield  and 


202 


SELECTIONS— EPICTETUS 

give  way  before  him  in  all  things,  and  work 
with  him  to  the  utmost  of  your  power. 

Once  more,  remember  that  you  are  a 
brother ;  and  to  this  character  corresponds 
the  duty  of  readiness  to  yield,  of  compliance, 
of  right  speech,  the  never  claiming  for  one's 
self  any  of  the  things  that  depend  not  on  our 
will,  but  the  cheerfully  resigning  of  these,  that 
you  may  have  a  greater  interest  in  what  your 
will  can  determine. 

12.   The  ideal  philosopher. 

But  so  much  I  have  to  say  to  you,  that 
whosoever  shall  without  God  attempt  so 
great  a  matter  stirreth  up  the  wrath  of  God 
against  him,  and  desireth  only  to  behave  him- 
self unseemly  before  the  people.  For  in  no 
well-ordered  house  doth  one  come  in  and 
say  to  himself:  I  should  be  the  steward  of 
the  house,  else,  when  the  lord  of  the  house 
shall  have  observed  it,  and  seeth  him  inso- 
lently giving  orders,  he  will  drag  him  forth 
and  chastise  him.  So  it  is  also  in  this  great 
city  of  the  universe,  for  here,  too,  there  is  a 
master  of  the  house  who  ordereth  each  and 

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GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

all,  saying  to  the  sun  :  Thou  art  the  sun ; 
thou  hast  the  power  to  make  thy  circuit  and 
to  constitute  the  year  and  the  season,  and  to 
increase  and  nourish  the  fruits,  and  to  stir  the 
winds,  and  still  them,  and  temperately  to 
warm  the  bodies  of  men.  Go  forth,  run  thy 
course,  and  minister  thus  to  the  greatest 
things  and  to  the  least.  Or,  thou  hast  the 
power  to  lead  the  host  against  Ilium,  be  then 
an  Agamemnon.  Thou  canst  fight  a  duel 
with  Hector,  be  an  Achilles.  But  supposing 
that  Thersites  came  forward  and  claimed  the 
command;  either  he  would  not  gain  it,  or  else, 
gaining  it,  he  would  disgrace  himself  before 
many  witnesses. 

First,  in  all  things  that  concern  thyself,  thou 
must  appear  in  nothing  like  unto  what  thou 
now  doest.  Thou  must  not  accuse  God  nor 
man  ;  thou  must  utterly  give  over  pursuit, 
and  avoid  only  those  things  that  are  in  the 
power  of  thy  will ;  anger  is  not  meet  for  thee, 
nor  resentment,  nor  envy,  nor  pity,  nor  com- 
passion—  neither  amorousness,  nor  vanity, 
nor  a  craving  even  for  the  smallest  luxury.  For 
it  must  be  understood  that  other  men  shelter 

204 


SELECTIONS— EPICTETUS 

themselves  by  walls  and  houses  and  by  dark- 
ness when  they  do  such  things,  and  many 
means  of  concealment  have  they.  One  shut- 
teth  the  door,  placeth  some  one  before  the 
chamber ;  if  any  one  should  come,  say,  he  is 
out,  he  is  busy.  But  in  place  of  all  these 
things  it  behooves  the  philosopher  to  shelter 
himself  behind  his  own  piety  and  reverence ; 
but  if  he  doth  not,  he  shall  be  put  to  shame, 
naked  under  the  sky.  This  is  his  house,  this 
his  door,  this  the  guards  of  his  chamber,  this 
his  darkness.  For  he  must  not  seek  to  hide 
aught  that  he  doeth,  else  he  is  gone,  the  phi- 
losopher hath  perished,  the  man  who  lived 
under  the  open  sky,  the  freeman.  He  hath 
begun  to  fear  something  from  without,  he 
hath  begun  to  need  concealment ;  nor  can  he 
find  it  when  he  would,  for  where  shall  he  hide 
himself,  and  how?  And  if  by  chance  this 
tutor,  this  public  teacher,  should  be  found  in 
guilt,  what  things  must  he  not  suffer  ?  And 
fearing  these  things,  can  he  yet  take  heart 
with  his  whole  soul  to  guide  the  rest  of 
mankind  ?  That  can  he  never :  it  is  impos- 
sible ! 

205 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

First,  then,  thou  must  purify  thy  ruling 
faculty,  and  this  vocation  of  thine  also,  say- 
ing :  My  mind  is  the  material  I  have  to  deal 
with,  just  as  wood  is  to  the  carpenter,  and 
leather  is  to  the  shoemaker ;  and  my  work  is 
the  right  employment  of  objects.  Neither  the 
body  nor  its  parts  have  anything  to  do  with 
me.  Death  ?  let  it  come  when  it  will  —  death 
either  of  the  whole,  or  any  part  of  it.  What! 
flee  it  ?  but  whither  ?  Can  any  one  cast  me 
altogether  out  of  the  universe  ?  It  is  impossi- 
ble ;  for  wheresoever  I  shall  go,  there  will  be 
the  sun  and  moon  and  stars ;  there  will  be 
visions,  omens,  and  communion  with  God. 

And  furthermore,  when  he  hath  thus 
fashioned  himself,  he  will  not  be  content  with 
these  things,  who  is  a  philosopher  indeed. 
But  know  that  he  is  a  herald  from  God  to 
men,  declaring  to  them  the  truth  about  good 
and  evil  things,  that  they  have  gone  astray 
and  are  seeking  the  reality  of  good  and  evil 
where  it  is  not,  and  do  not  consider  where  it 
is.  ...  For  the  philosopher  really  is  a  kind 
of  spy,  to  report  what  is  friendly,  and  what  is 
hostile,  to  mankind.  And  having  carefully 

206 


SELECTIONS — EPICTETUS 

spied  out  these  things  by  himself,  he  must 
come  and  report  the  exact  truth,  neither  be- 
ing so  stricken  with  panic  as  to  report  enemies 
where  there  are  none,  nor  in  any  other  way 
being  confused,  or  bewildered  by  vain  im- 
pressions. 

In  what,  then,  is  the  good,  seeing  that  in 
these  things  it  is  not?  Tell  us,  thou,  my  lord 
missionary  and  spy !  It  is  there  where  ye 
deem  it  not,  and  where  ye  have  no  desire  to 
seek  it.  For  did  ye  desire,  ye  would  have 
found  it  in  yourselves,  nor  would  ye  wander 
to  things  without,  nor  pursue  things  alien,  as 
if  they  were  your  own  concerns.  Turn  to 
your  own  selves ;  understand  the  natural  con- 
ceptions which  ye  possess.  What  kind  of  thing 
do  ye  take  the  good  to  be?  Peace?  happiness? 
freedom?  Come,  then,  do  ye  not  naturally 
conceive  it  as  great,  as  precious,  and  that  can- 
not be  harmed?  What  kind  of  material,  then, 
will  ye  take  to  shape  peace  and  freedom  withal 
— that  which  is  enslaved  or  in  that  which  is 
free?  That  which  is  free.  Have  ye  the  flesh  en- 
slaved or  free?  We  know  not.  Know  ye  not 
that  it  is  the  slave  of  fever,  of  gout,  of  oph- 

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GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

thalmia,  of  dysentery,  of  tyranny,  and  fire,  and 
steel,  and  everything  that  is  mightier  than  it- 
self P  Yea,  it  is  enslaved.  How,  then,  can 
aught  that  is  of  the  body  be  free?  and  how 
can  that  be  great  or  precious  which  by  nature 
is  dead,  mere  dust  or  clay  ?  What  then !  do 
ye  possess  nothing  that  is  free?  Nothing  per- 
haps !  But  say,  who  can  force  you  to  assent  to 
what  appears  to  be  false?  No  one;  or  to  refuse 
assent  to  what  appears  to  be  true?  No  one. 
Well,  then,  you  see  by  this,  that  there  is  in 
you  something  which  is  by  nature  free.  Or, 
again,  which  of  you  can  desire  or  avoid,  pur- 
sue or  shrink,  purpose  or  prepare  for  anything 
without  having  formed  a  conception  of  what  is 
profitable  or  unbecoming?  No  one.  Here, 
too,  then,  you  have  something  that  is  unim- 
peded and  free;  this  part  of  you,  miserable 
men,  ye  should  cultivate,  and  attend  to,  and 
in  this  seek  for  the  good. 

And  how  is  it  possible  that  one  can  live 
prosperously  who  hath  nothing;  a  naked, 
homeless,  hearthless,  beggarly  man,  without 
servants,  without  a  country  ?  Lo,  God  hath 
sent  you  a  man  to  show  you  in  very  deed 

208 


SELECTIONS  — EPICTETUS 

that  it  is  possible.  Look  at  me !  I  have  neither 
country,  nor  house,  nor  goods,  nor  servants; 
I  sleep  on  the  ground ;  I  have  no  wife  nor 
children,  nor  garret;  I  possess  nothing  but 
earth,  sky,  and  one  poor  cloak.  Yet  what  lack 
I  ?  Am  I  not  free  from  grief  and  fear  ?  Am 
I  not  free?  When  did  any  of  you  see  me 
fail  of  my  pursuit  or  meet  with  what  I  had 
avoided?  When  did  I  blame  God  or  man? 
When  did  I  accuse  any  man?  When  did  any 
of  you  see  me  of  a  sullen  countenance?  How 
do  I  meet  those  whom  ye  fear  and  marvel  at? 
Do  I  not  treat  them  as  my  slaves  ?  Who  that 
seeth  me,  but  thinketh  he  beholdeth  his  king 
and  his  lord? 

13.  Life  a  voyage. 

We  must  act  in  life  as  when  starting  on  a 
voyage.  What  is  it  possible  for  me  to  do?  To 
select  the  captain  and  the  crew,  the  season 
and  the  day.  Then  perhaps  a  storm  bursts 
,  upon  us.  Well !  but  what  does  it  matter  to 
me  any  more?  because  all  that  was  mine  to 
do  has  been  already  done;  the  problem  is 
now  another's,  namely,  the  captain's.  But  the 

209 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

ship  is  actually  sinking.  What  have  I  to  do 
thenP 

Why,  simply  the  only  thing  I  can — drown 
—  without  terror  or  screaming  or  accusing 
God,  but  knowing  that  what  is  born  must 
also  perish. 

For  I  am  no  eternal,  but  a  man  —  a  frag- 
ment of  the  whole,  just  as  an  hour  is  of  the 
day ;  like  the  hour,  then,  I  must  arrive,  as  an 
hour  pass  away.  What  does  it  matter  there- 
fore how  I  pass  away,  whether  by  drowning, 
or  by  a  fever  ?  For  pass  I  must  —  in  this,  or 
some  other  way. 

14.   Man  an  actor  on  the  world 's  stage. 

Remember  that  thou  art  an  actor  in  a  play, 
of  such  a  kind  as  the  manager  may  choose  — 
with  a  short  part,  if  he  assigns  you  a  short 
part,  or  a  long  one,  if  he  shall  choose  a  long; 
if  he  wishes  you  to  act  the  part  of  a  beggar,  see 
that  you  act  the  part  naturally;  if  the  part  of  a 
cripple,  of  a  magistrate,  of  a  private  person,  see 
that  you  act  each  gracefully.  For  this  is  your 
duty,  to  act  well  the  part  that  is  given  to  you; 
but  to  select  the  part,  belongs  to  another. 

2IO 


SELECTIONS—  EPICTETUS 

15.   How  Death  should  find  us. 

Do  you  not  know  that  both  disease  and 
death  must  surprise  us  while  we  are  doing 
something?  the  husbandman  while  he  is  til- 
ling the  ground,  the  sailor  while  he  is  on  his 
voyage?  What  would  you  be  doing  when  death 
surprises  you,  for  you  must  be  surprised  while 
you  are  doing  something  ?  If  you  can  be  do- 
ing anything  better  than  this  when  you  are 
surprised,  do  it.  For  I  wish  to  be  surprised 
by  disease  or  death  when  I  am  looking  after 
nothing  else  than  my  own  will,  that  I  may 
be  free  from  perturbation,  that  I  may  be  free 
from  hindrance,  free  from  compulsion,  and 
in  a  state  of  liberty.  I  wish  to  be  found 
practising  these  things  that  I  may  be  able  to 
say  to  God  :  Have  I  in  any  respect  trans- 
gressed thy  commands?  have  I  in  any  respect 
wrongly  used  the  powers  which  thou  gavest 
me  ?  have  I  misused  my  perceptions  or  my 
preconceptions  ?  have  I  ever  blamed  thee  ? 
have  I  ever  found  fault  with  thy  adminis- 
tration ?  I  have  been  sick,  because  it  was  thy 
will,  and  so  have  others,  but  I  was  content 


21  I 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

to  be  sick.  I  have  been  poor  because  it  was 
thy  will,  but  I  was  content  also.  I  have  not 
filled  a  magisterial  office,  because  it  was  not 
thy  pleasure  that  I  should ;  I  have  never 
desired  it.  Hast  thou  ever  seen  me  for  this 
reason  discontented  ?  have  I  not  always  ap- 
proached thee  with  a  cheerful  countenance, 
ready  to  do  thy  commands  and  to  obey  thy 
signals  ?  Is  it  now  thy  will  that  I  should  de- 
part from  the  assemblage  of  men  ?  I  depart. 
I  give  thee  all  thanks  that  thou  hast  allowed 
me  to  join  in  this  thy  assemblage  of  men  and 
to  see  thy  works,  and  to  comprehend  this,  thy 
administration.  May  death  surprise  me  while 
I  am  thinking  of  these  things,  while  I  am 
thus  writing  and  reading. 

1 6.  Loss  truly  restitution. 

Never  say,  in  any  case, —  I  have  lost  so 
and  so,  but  only,  I  have  returned  it.  Is  your 
child  dead?  it  is  returned.  Is  your  wife  dead? 
she  is  returned.  Have  you  had  your  property 
taken  away  ?  well !  is  not  this,  too,  merely 
returned  ? 

But  you  tell  me  —  he  that  took  it  was  a 

2  12 


SELECTIONS— EPICTETUS 

rogue.  I  answer  —  what  does  it  concern  you, 
through  whose  action  he  that  gave  it  you  de- 
mands it  back  ;  so  long  as  he  allows  it  to  you, 
manage  it  as  you  would  the  property  of  an- 
other, use  it  as  wayfarers  use  an  inn. 

17.   Good  habit  s^  their  nature  and  attainment. 

Every  skill  and  faculty  is  maintained  and 
increased  by  the  corresponding  acts  ;  as,  the 
faculty  of  walking  by  walking,  of  running  by 
running.  If  you  will  read  aloud  well,  then  do 
it  constantly;  if  you  will  write,  then  write. 
But  when  you  have  not  read  aloud  for  thirty 
days  together,  but  done  something  else,  you 
shall  see  the  result.  Thus,  if  you  have  lain 
down  for  ten  days,  then  rise  up  and  endeavor 
to  walk  a  good  distance,  and  you  shall  see 
how  your  legs  are  enfeebled.  In  general,  then, 
if  you  would  make  yourself  skilled  in  any- 
thing, then  do  it ;  and  if  you  would  refrain 
from  anything,  then  do  it  not,  but  use  yourself 
to  do  rather  some  other  thing  instead  of  it. 

And  thus  in  spiritual  things  also.  When 
thou  art  wrathful,  know  that  not  this  single 
evil  hath  happened  to  thee,  but  that  thou 

213 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

hast  increased  the  aptness  to  it,  and,  as  it 
were,  poured  oil  upon  the  fire.  When  thou 
art  overcome  in  passion,  think  not  that  this 
defeat  is  all ;  but  thou  hast  nourished  thy  in- 
continence, and  increased  it.  For  it  is  impos- 
sible but  that  aptitudes  and  faculties  should 
spring  up  where  they  were  not  before,  or 
spread  and  grow  mightier,  by  the  correspond- 
ing acts.  And  thus,  surely,  do  also,  as  the 
philosophers  say,  the  infirmities  of  the  soul 
grow  up.  For  when  thou  hast  once  been 
covetous  of  money,  if  reason,  which  leadeth 
to  a  sense  of  the  vice,  be  called  to  aid,  then 
both  the  desire  is  set  at  rest,  and  our  ruling 
faculty  is  re-established,  as  it  was  in  the  be- 
ginning. But  if  thou  bring  no  remedy  to  aid, 
then  shall  the  soul  return  no  more  to  the  first 
estate;  but  when  next  excited  by  the  corre- 
sponding appearance,  shall  be  kindled  to  de- 
sire even  more  quickly  than  before.  And 
when  this  is  continually  happening,  the  soul 
becomes  callous  in  the  end,  and  through  its 
infirmity  the  love  of  money  is  strengthened. 
For  he  that  hath  had  a  fever,  when  the  illness 
hath  left  him,  is  not  what  he  was  before  his 

214 


SELECTIONS— EPICTETUS 

fever,  unless  he  have  been  entirely  healed. 
And  somewhat  on  this  wise  also  it  happens 
in  the  affections  of  the  soul ;  certain  traces 
and  scars  are  left  in  it,  the  which  if  a  man 
do  not  wholly  eradicate,  when  he  hath  been 
again  scourged  on  the  same  place,  it  shall 
make  no  longer  scars,  but  sores. 

Wouldst  thou,  then,  be  no  longer  of  a 
wrathful  temper  ?  Then  do  not  nourish  the 
aptness  to  it,  give  it  nothing  that  will  increase 
it,  be  tranquil  from  the  outset,  and  number 
the  days  when  thou  hast  not  been  wrathful. 
I  have  not  been  wrathful  now  for  one,  now 
for  two,  now  for  three  days;  but  if  thou  have 
raved  thirty  days,  then  sacrifice  to  God.  For 
the  aptness  is  at  first  enfeebled,  and  then  de- 
stroyed. To-day  I  was  not  vexed,  nor  to- 
morrow, nor  for  two  or  three  months  to- 
gether ;  but  I  was  heedful  when  anything 
happened  to  move  me  thus.  Know  that 
thou  art  in  good  care. 

But  how  is  this  to  be  done  ?  Resolve  at  last 
to  seek  thine  own  commendation,  to  appear 
fair  in  the  eyes  of  God;  desire  to  become  pure 
with  thine  own  pure  self,  and  with  God.  Then 

215 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

when  thou  shalt  fall  in  with  any  appearance 
such  as  we  have  spoken  of,  what  saith  Plato  ? 
Go  to  the  purifying  sacrifices,  go  and  pray  in 
the  temples  of  the  protecting  gods.  It  shall 
even  suffice  if  thou  seek  the  company  of  good 
and  wise  men,  and  try  thyself  by  one  of  them, 
whether  he  be  one  of  the  living  or  of  the  dead. 
This  is  the  genuine  athlete,  he  who  exer- 
ciseth  himself  against  such  appearances.  Stand 
fast,  unhappy  man,  and  be  not  swept  away. 
Great  is  the  struggle,  divine  the  enterprise  ; 
it  is  for  sovereignty,  for  freedom,  for  pros- 
perity, for  peace.  Think  upon  God:  call  on 
him  to  be  your  helper  and  defender ;  even 
as  a  sailor  calls  upon  the  Twin  Gods  (Dios- 
curi) in  a  storm  ;  for  what  storm  is  greater 
than  that  which  arises  from  objects  strong 
enough  to  dash  reason  from  her  seat?  Aye, 
what  is  a  storm  itself  but  a  thing  of  sense  ? 
since  you  have  only  to  take  away  the  fear  of 
death,  and  then  you  may  stand  as  many  light- 
nings and  thunderings  as  you  please,  for  you 
will  find  what  a  great  calm  and  serenity  there 
will  be  in  the  ruling  faculty  of  your  soul.  But 
if  you  be  once  worsted,  and  say  that  you  will 

216 


SELECTIONS— EPICTETUS 

conquer  the  next  time,  and  then  the  same 
again  and  again,  be  sure  you  will  at  last  be- 
come so  cowardly  and  weak,  as  not  even  to 
perceive  henceforward  that  you  are  doing 
wrong,  but  you  will  begin  to  frame  excuses 
for  your  misdoing,  and  thus  confirm  the  truth 
of  Hesiod's  words  :  "With  ruin  ever  the  pro- 
crastinator  wrestles  ! ' 

1 8.   How  to  live. 

How  long  wilt  thou  delay  to  hold  thyself 
worthy  of  the  best  things,  and  to  transgress 
in  nothing  the  decrees  of  reason  ?  Thou  hast 
received  the  maxims  by  which  it  behooves  thee 
to  live  ;  and  dost  thou  live  by  them  ?  What 
teacher  dost  thou  still  look  for  to  whom  to 
hand  over  the  task  of  thy  correction  ?  Thou 
art  no  longer  a  boy,  but  already  a  man  full 
grown.  If,  then,  thou  art  neglectful  and  slug- 
gish, and  ever  making  resolve  after  resolve, 
and  fixing  one  day  after  another  on  which 
thou  wilt  begin  to  attend  to  thyself,  thou  wilt 
forget  that  thou  art  making  no  advance,  but 
will  go  on  as  one  of  the  vulgar  sort,  both 
living  and  dying. 

217 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

Now,  at  last,  therefore,  hold  thyself  worthy 
to  live  as  a  man  of  full  age  and  one  who  is 
pressing  forward,  and  let  everything  that 
appeareth  the  best  be  to  thee  as  an  inviolable 
law.  And  if  any  toil  or  pleasure  or  reputation 
or  the  loss  of  it  be  laid  upon  thee,  remember 
that  now  is  the  contest,  here  already  are  the 
Olympian  games,  and  there  is  no  deferring 
them  any  longer,  and  that  in  a  single  day  and 
in  a  single  trial,  ground  is  to  be  lost  or  gained. 

It  was  thus  that  Socrates  made  himself 
what  he  was,  in  all  things  that  befell  him, 
having  regard  to  no  other  things  than  reason. 
But  thou,  albeit  thou  be  yet  no  Socrates,  yet 
as  one  that  would  be  Socrates,  so  it  behooveth 
thee  to  live. 

19.   Why  we  should  bear  with  wrong. 

When  some  one  may  do  you  an  injury,  or 
speak  ill  of  you,  remember  that  he  either  does 
it  or  speaks  it  believing  that  it  is  right  and 
meet  for  him  to  do  so.  It  is  not  possible, 
then,  that  he  can  follow  the  thing  that  ap- 
pears to  you,  but  the  thing  that  appears  to 
him.  Wherefore,  if  it  appear  evil  to  him,  it 

218 


SELECTIONS— EPICTETUS 

is  he  that  is  injured,  being  deceived.  For  also 
if  any  one  should  take  a  true  consequence  to 
be  false,  it  is  not  the  consequence  that  is  in- 
jured but  he  which  is  deceived.  Setting  out, 
then,  from  these  opinions,  you  will  bear  a 
gentle  mind  towards  any  man  who  may  re- 
vile you.  For,  say  on  each  occasion,  so  it  ap- 
peared to  him. 

20.   That  we  should  be  open  in  our  dealings. 

In  doing  aught  which  thou  hast  clearly  dis- 
cerned a  right  to  do,  seek  never  to  avoid  be- 
ing seen  in  the  doing  of  it,  even  though  the 
multitude  should  be  destined  to  form  some 
wrong  opinion  concerning  it.  For  if  thou  dost 
not  right,  avoid  the  deed  itself.  But  if  rightly, 
why  fear  thou  who  will  wrongly  rebuke  thee? 


219 


XIII 
SELECTIONS   FROM    SENECA1 

i .   The  intention^  not  the  matter •,  that  makes  the 

benefit. 

THE  good  will  of  the  benefactor  is  the  foun- 
tain of  all  benefits;  nay,  it  is  the  benefit  itself, 
or,  at  least  the  stamp,  that  makes  it  valuable 
and  current.  Some  there  are,  I  know,  that 
take  the  matter  for  the  benefit;  and  tax  the 
obligation  by  weight  and  measure.  When  any- 
thing is  given  them,  they  presently  cast  it  up: 
"What  may  such  a  house  be  worth?  such  an 
office  ?  such  an  estate  ? "  as  if  that  were  the  ben- 
efit, which  is  only  the  sign  and  mark  of  it :  for 
the  obligation  rests  in  the  mind,  not  in  the 
matter;  and  all  those  advantages  which  we 
see,  handle,  or  hold  in  actual  possession  by 
the  courtesy  of  another,  are  but  several  modes 
or  ways  of  explaining,  and  putting  the  good 
will  in  execution.  There  needs  no  great  sub- 

1  Selections  from  the  "  Morals"  of  Seneca. 


220 


SELECTIONS— SENECA 

tlety  to  prove  that  both  benefits  and  injuries 
receive  their  value  from  the  intention,  when 
even  brutes  themselves  are  able  to  decide  this 
question.  .  .  .  The  benefit  is  immortal,  the  gift 
perishable :  for  the  benefit  still  continues,  when 
we  have  no  longer  the  use  or  the  matter  of  it. 

i.   ¥  he  manner  of  obliging. 

There  is  not  any  benefit  so  glorious  in  it- 
self, but  it  may  yet  be  exceedingly  sweetened, 
and  improved  by  the  manner  of  conferring  it. 
The  virtue,  I  know,  rests  in  the  intent ;  the 
profit,  in  the  judicious  application  of  the 
matter;  but  the  beauty  and  ornament  of  an 
obligation  lies  in  the  manner  of  it;  and  it  is 
then  perfect,  when  the  dignity  of  the  office  is 
accompanied  with  all  the  charms  and  delica- 
cies of  humanity,  good  nature,  and  address : 
and  with  despatch  too;  for  he  that  puts  a  man 
off  from  time  to  time,  was  never  right  at  heart. 

3 .    Of  a  happy  life,  and  wherein  it  consists. 

There  is  not  anything  in  this  world,  per- 
haps, that  is  more  talked  of,  and  less  under- 
stood, than  the  business  of  a  happy  life.  It  is 

221 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

every  man's  wish  and  design;  and  yet  not  one 
of  a  thousand  that  knows  wherein  that  happi- 
ness consists.  We  live,  however,  in  a  blind 
and  eager  pursuit  of  it;  and  the  more  haste 
we  make  in  a  wrong  way,  the  farther  we  are 
from  our  journey's  end. 

The  true  felicity  of  life  is  to  be  free  from 
perturbations ;  to  understand  our  duties  to- 
ward God  and  man;  to  enjoy  the  present, 
without  any  anxious  dependence  upon  the 
future.  Not  to  amuse  ourselves  with  either 
hopes  or  fears,  but  to  rest  satisfied  with  what 
we  have,  which  is  abundantly  sufficient;  for 
he  that  is  so,  wants  nothing.  The  great  bless- 
ings of  mankind  are  within  us,  and  within  our 
reach;  but  we  shut  our  eyes,  and  like  people 
in  the  dark,  we  fall  foul  upon  the  very  thing  we 
search  for,  without  rinding  it.  "Tranquillity 
is  a  certain  quality  of  mind,  which  no  condi- 
tion of  fortune  can  either  exalt  or  depress." 
Nothing  can  make  it  less;  for  it  is  the  state 
of  human  perfection :  it  raises  us  as  high  as 
we  can  go,  and  makes  every  man  his  own  sup- 
porter; whereas  he  that  is  borne  up  by  any- 
thing else,  may  fall.  He  that  judges  aright, 

222 


SELECTIONS— SENECA 

and  perseveres  in  it,  enjoys  a  perpetual  calm: 
he  takes  a  true  prospect  of  things ;  he  observes 
an  order,  measure,  a  decorum  in  all  his  actions : 
he  has  a  benevolence  in  his  nature ;  he  squares 
his  life  according  to  reason ;  he  draws  to  him- 
self love  and  admiration. 

4.    There  can  be  no  happiness  without  virtue. 

Virtue  is  that  perfect  good,  which  is  the 
compliment  of  a  happy  life  ;  the  only  im- 
mortal thing  that  belongs  to  mortality  :  it  is 
the  knowledge  both  of  others  and  itself;  it  is 
an  invincible  greatness  of  mind,  not  to  be 
elevated  or  dejected,  with  good  or  ill  fortune. 
It  is  sociable  and  gentle  ;  free,  steady,  and 
fearless;  content  within  itself;  full  of  inex- 
haustible delights  ;  and  it  is  valued  for  itself. 
One  may  be  a  good  physician,  a  good  gov- 
ernor, a  good  grammarian,  without  being  a 
good  man ;  so  that  all  things  from  without, 
are  only  accessories ;  for  the  seat  of  it  is  a 
pure  and  holy  mind. 

5.  Philosophy  is  the  guide  of  life. 

If  it  be  true,  that  the  understanding  and 

223 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN   STOICISM 

the  will  are  the  two  eminent  faculties  of  the 
reasonable  soul,  it  follows  necessarily,  that 
wisdom  and  virtue  (which  are  the  best  im- 
provement of  these  two  faculties),  must  be 
the  perfection  also  of  our  reasonable  being ; 
and  consequently  the  undeniable  foundation 
of  a  happy  life.  There  is  not  any  duty  to 
which  providence  has  not  annexed  a  blessing ; 
nor  any  institution  of  heaven  which,  even  in 
this  life,  we  may  not  be  the  better  for;  not 
any  temptation,  either  of  fortune  or  of  appe- 
tite, that  is  not  subject  to  our  reason  ;  nor 
any  passion  or  affliction  for  which  virtue  has 
not  provided  a  remedy.  So  that  it  is  our  own 
fault  if  we  either  fear  or  hope  for  anything ; 
which  two  affections  are  the  root  of  all  our 
miseries.  From  this  general  prospect  of  the 
foundation  of  our  tranquillity,  we  shall  pass 
by  degrees  to  a  particular  consideration  of 
the  means  by  which  it  may  be  acquired ;  and 
of  the  impediments  that  obstruct  it;  begin- 
ning with  that  philosophy  which  principally 
regards  our  manners,  and  instructs  us  in  the 
measures  of  a  virtuous  and  quiet  life. 


224 


SELECTIONS — SENECA 

6.  No  felicity  like  peace  of  conscience. 

"  A  good  conscience  is  the  testimony  of  a 
good  life,  and  the  reward  of  it."  This  is  it 
that  fortifies  the  mind  against  fortune,  when 
a  man  has  gotten  the  mastery  of  his  passions; 
placed  his  treasure  and  his  security  within 
himself;  learned  to  be  content  with  his  con- 
dition ;  and  that  death  is  no  evil  in  itself,  but 
only  the  end  of  man.  He  that  has  dedicated 
his  mind  to  virtue,  and  to  the  good  of  human 
society,  whereof  he  is  a  member,  has  con- 
summated all  that  is  either  profitable  or  nec- 
essary for  him  to  know  or  do  toward  the 
establishment  of  his  peace.  Every  man  has 
a  judge  and  witness  within  himself,  of  all  the 
good  and  ill  that  he  does  ;  which  inspires  us 
with  great  thoughts,  and  administers  to  us 
wholesome  counsels.  We  have  a  veneration 
for  all  the  works  of  nature,  the  heads  of 
rivers,  and  the  springs  of  medicinal  waters  ; 
the  horrors  of  groves,  and  of  caves,  strike 
us  with  an  impression  of  religion  and  worship. 
To  see  a  man  fearless  in  dangers,  untainted 
with  lusts,  happy  in  adversity,  composed  in  a 

225 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

tumult,  and  laughing  at  all  those  things  which 
are  generally  either  coveted  or  feared ;  all 
men  must  acknowledge,  that  this  can  be  noth- 
ing else  but  a  beam  of  divinity  that  influences 
a  mortal  body. 

7.   Hope  and  fear  are  the  bane  of  human  life. 

No  man  can  be  said  to  be  perfectly  happy, 
that  runs  the  risk  of  disappointment ;  which 
is  the  case  of  every  man  that  fears  or  hopes 
for  anything.  For  hope  and  fear,  how  distant 
forever  they  may  seem  to  be  the  one  from 
the  other,  they  are  both  of  them  yet  coupled 
in  the  same  chain,  as  the  guard  and  the  pris- 
oner ;  and  the  one  treads  upon  the  heel  of 
the  other.  The  reason  of  this  is  obvious,  for 
they  are  passions  that  look  forward,  and  are 
ever  solicitous  for  the  future ;  only  hope  is 
the  more  plausible  weakness  of  the  two,  which 
in  truth,  upon  the  main,  are  inseparable,  for 
the  one  cannot  be  without  the  other :  but 
when  the  hope  is  stronger  than  the  fear,  or 
the  fear  than  the  hope,  we  call  it  the  one  or 
the  other ;  for  without  fear  it  were  no  longer 
hope,  but  certainty  ;  as  without  hope  it  were 

226 


SELECTIONS— SENECA 

no  longer  fear,  but  despair.  We  may  come  to 
understand,  whether  our  disputes  are  vain  or 
no,  if  we  do  but  consider,  that  we  are  either 
troubled  about  the  present,  the  future,  or 
both.  If  the  present,  it  is  easy  to  judge,  and 
the  future  is  uncertain.  It  is  a  foolish  thing 
to  be  miserable  beforehand,  for  fear  of  misery 
to  come  ;  for  a  man  loses  the  present  which 
he  might  enjoy,  in  expectation  of  the  future  ; 
nay,  the  fear  of  losing  anything  is  as  bad  as 
the  loss  itself.  I  will  be  as  prudent  as  I  can, 
but  not  timorous  or  careless  ;  and  I  will  be- 
think myself,  and  forecast  what  inconven- 
iences may  happen,  before  they  come.  It  is 
true,  a  man  may  fear,  and  yet  not  be  fearful ; 
which  is  no  more  than  to  have  the  affection 
of  fear,  without  the  vice  of  it ;  but  yet  a  fre- 
quent admittance  of  it  runs  into  a  habit.  It  is 
a  shameful  and  an  unmanly  thing  to  be  doubt- 
ful, timorous,  and  uncertain  ;  to  set  one  step 
forward,  and  another  backward;  and  to  be  ir- 
resolute. Can  there  be  any  man  so  fearful,  that 
had  not  rather  fall  once,  than  hang  always  in 
suspense  ? 


227 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

8.    The  blessings  of  temperance  and  moderation. 

There  is  not  anything  that  is  necessary  to 
us  but  we  have  it  either  cheap  or  gratis  ;  and 
this  is  the  provision  that  our  Heavenly 
Father  has  made  for  us,  whose  bounty  was 
never  wanting  to  our  needs.  It  is  true,  the 
stomach  craves  and  calls  upon  us,  but  then  a 
small  matter  contents  it ;  a  little  bread  and 
water  is  sufficient,  and  all  the  rest  is  but  su- 
perfluous. He  that  lives  according  to  reason 
shall  never  be  poor,  and  he  that  governs  his 
life  by  opinion  shall  never  be  rich  ;  for  nature 
is  limited,  but  fancy  is  boundless.  As  for 
meat,  clothes,  and  lodging,  a  little  needs  the 
body,  and  as  little  covers  it ;  so  that  if  man- 
kind would  only  attend  human  nature,  with- 
out gaping  at  superfluities,  a  cook  would  be 
found  as  needless  as  a  soldier ;  for  we  may 
have  necessaries  on  very  easy  terms ;  where- 
as we  put  ourselves  to  great  pains  for  ex- 

V  v- O  O  t- O  •       •       •       • 

It  is  the  mind  that  makes  us  rich  and 
happy,  in  what  condition  soever  we  are;  and 
money  signifies  no  more  to  it  than  it  does  to 

228 


SELECTIONS — SENECA 

the  gods;  if  the  religion  be  sincere,  no  matter 
for  the  ornaments ;  it  is  only  luxury  and 
avarice  that  makes  poverty  grievous  to  us  ; 
for  it  is  a  very  small  matter  that  does  our 
business ;  and  when  we  have  provided  against 
cold,  hunger,  and  thirst,  all  the  rest  is  but 
vanity  and  excess  ;  and  there  is  no  need  of 
expense  upon  foreign  delicacies,  or  the  arti- 
fices of  the  kitchen.  .  .  . 

Happy  is  that  man  that  eats  only  for  hun- 
ger, and  drinks  only  for  thirst ;  that  stands 
upon  his  own  legs,  and  lives  by  reason,  not 
by  example ;  and  provides  for  use  and  neces- 
sity, not  for  ostentation  and  pomp.  Let  us 
curb  our  appetites,  encourage  virtue,  and 
rather  be  beholden  to  ourselves  for  riches 
than  to  fortune,  who  when  a  man  draws  him- 
self into  a  narrow  compass,  has  the  least  mark 
at  him.  Let  my  bed  be  plain  and  clean,  and 
my  clothes  so  too  ;  my  meat  without  much 
expense,  or  many  waiters,  and  neither  a  bur- 
den to  my  purse  nor  to  my  body,  not  to  go 
out  the  same  way  it  came  in.  That  which  is 
too  little  for  luxury,  is  abundantly  enough 
for  nature. 


22Q 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

9.   What  makes  life  worth  living. 

Why  should  one  take  pleasure  in  being 
alive  ?  merely  to  act  as  a  sort  of  filter  for  so 
much  food  and  drink  ?  merely  to  pamper  and 
doctor  for  all  one's  life  a  sickly  and  wasting 
body,  which  is  only  kept  from  death  by  re- 
peated nourishment? 

Or  to  abide  in  fear  of  death,  the  one  event 
we  are  born  for  ?  No  !  Take  away  the  price- 
less blessing  of  thought,  and  life  is  not  worth 
the  sweat  and  fever  it  entails.  Oh  !  what  an 
abject  thing  is  man,  if  he  does  not  rise  above 
the  level  of  human  things  !  Is  it  a  very  great 
matter  to  contend  against  our  passions,  and 
even  when  we  conquer  these,  have  we  done 
such  wonders  after  all  ?  .  .  .  The  virtue  we 
aspire  to  is  grand  in  its  way,  not,  however, 
because  emancipation  from  evil  is  by  itself 
such  a  blessed  thing,  but  because  virtue  ex- 
pands the  mind,  fits  it  for  the  knowledge  of 
heavenly  things,  and  renders  it  worthy  of 
communion  with  the  gods.  Man  only  then 
attains  the  fullness  and  perfection  of  his  des- 
tiny, when  having  trodden  all  evil  under  his 

230 


SELECTIONS— SENECA 

feet  he  lifts  his  mind  above,  and  penetrates 
into  the  inner  heart  of  nature.  .  .  . 

Then  at  last  he  learns,  what  he  has  long 
sought  to  know.  Then  he  begins  to  appre- 
hend God ;  for  what  is  God  but  the  mind  of 
the  universe  ?  What  is  God  but  the  sum  of 
all  that  is  visible  and  invisible.  Then  only  do 
we  ascribe  to  him  the  absolute  perfection  that 
is  his  due,  when  we  acknowledge  him  to  con- 
stitute all  things  by  himself,  and  his  opera- 
tion to  extend  over  all  without  and  within. 
What  difference  then  is  there  between  God's 
nature  and  our  own  ?  Simply  this  :  while  with 
us  the  mind  is  the  nobler  part,  he  is  nothing 
but  mind ;  he  is  all  reason. 

10.   Consolations  against  death. 

This  life  is  only  a  prelude  to  eternity, 
where  we  are  to  expect  another  original,  and 
another  state  of  things  ;  we  have  no  prospect 
of  heaven  here  but  at  a  distance  ;  let  us  there- 
fore expect  our  last  and  decretory  hour  with 
courage.  The  last  (I  say)  to  our  bodies,  but 
not  to  our  minds  ;  our  luggage  we  must  leave 
behind  us,  and  return  as  naked  out  of  the 

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GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

world  as  we  came  into  it.  The  day  which  we 
fear  as  our  last,  is  but  the  birthday  of  our 
eternity  ;  and  it  is  the  only  way  to  it.  So  that 
what  we  fear  as  a  rock,  proves  to  be  but  a 
port ;  in  many  cases  to  be  desired,  never  to 
be  refused ;  and  he  that  dies  young,  has  only 
made  a  quick  voyage  of  it.  Some  are  be- 
calmed, others  cut  it  away  before  wind ;  and 
we  live  just  as  we  sail :  first,  we  run  our  child- 
hood out  of  sight ;  our  youth  next ;  and  then 
our  middle  age  ;  after  that  follows  old  age, 
and  brings  us  to  the  common  end  of  man- 
kind. It  is  a  great  providence  that  we  have 
more  ways  out  of  the  world  than  we  have 
into  it.  Our  security  stands  on  a  point,  the 
very  article  of  death.  It  draws  a  great  many 
blessings  into  a  very  narrow  compass  ;  and 
although  the  fruit  of  it  does  not  seem  to  ex- 
tend to  the  deceased,  yet  the  difficulty  of  it 
is  more  than  balanced  by  the  contemplation 
of  the  future.  Nay,  suppose  that  all  the  busi- 
ness of  this  world  should  be  forgotten,  or  my 
memory  traduced,  what  is  all  this  to  me  ?  u  I 
have  done  my  duty."  Undoubtedly  that 
which  puts  an  end  to  all  other  evils  cannot  be 


232 


SELECTIONS — SENECA 

a  very  great  evil  itself,  and  yet  it  is  no  easy 
thing  for  flesh  and  blood  to  despise  life.  .  .  . 

To  suffer  death  is  but  the  law  of  nature ; 
and  it  is  a  great  comfort  that  it  can  be  done 
but  once  ;  in  the  very  convulsions  of  it  we 
have  this  consolation,  that  our  pain  is  near  an 
end,  and  that  it  frees  us  from  all  the  miseries 
of  life.  What  it  is  we  know  not,  and  it  were 
rash  to  condemn  what  we  do  not  understand; 
but  this  we  presume,  either  that  we  shall  pass 
out  of  this  into  a  better  life,  where  we  shall 
live  with  tranquillity  and  splendor  in  divine 
mansions,  or  else  return  to  our  first  princi- 
ples, free  from  the  sense  of  any  inconvenience. 
There  is  nothing  immortal,  nor  many  things 
lasting  ;  but  by  divers  ways  everything  comes 
to  an  end.  What  an  arrogance  it  is  then,  when 
the  world  itself  stands  condemned  to  a  disso- 
lution, that  man  alone  should  expect  to  live 
forever?  It  is  unjust  not  to  allow  unto  the 
giver  the  power  of  disposing  of  his  own 
bounty,  and  a  folly,  only  to  value  the  pres- 
ent. 

Death  is  as  much  a  debt  as  money,  and 
life  is  but  a  journey  towards  it:  some  despatch 

233 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

it  sooner,  others  later,  but  we  must  all  have 
the  same  period.  The  thunderbolt  is  un- 
doubtedly just,  that  draws  even  from  those 
that  are  struck  with  it  a  veneration.  A  great 
soul  takes  no  delight  in  staying  with  the 
body,  it  considers  whence  it  came,  and  knows 
whither  it  is  to  go.  The  day  will  come  that 
shall  separate  this  mixture  of  soul  and  body, 
of  divine  and  human ;  my  body  I  will  leave 
where  I  found  it,  my  soul  I  will  restore  to 
heaven,  which  would  have  been  there  already, 
but  for  the  clog  that  keeps  it  down :  and  be- 
side, how  many  men  have  been  the  worse 
for  longer  living,  that  might  have  died  with 
reputation,  if  they  had  been  sooner  taken 
away?  How  many  disappointments  of  hope- 
ful youths,  that  have  proved  dissolute  men? 
Over  and  above  the  ruins,  shipwrecks,  tor- 
ments, prisons,  that  attend  long  life ;  a  blessing 
so  deceitful,  that  if  a  child  were  in  condition 
to  judge  of  it,  and  at  liberty  to  refuse  it,  he 
would  not  take  it. 

1 1 .   Poverty  a  blessing. 

No  man  shall  ever  be  poor,  that  goes  to 

234 


SELECTIONS — SENECA 

himself  for  what  he  wants ;  and  that  is  the 
readiest  way  to  riches:  nature  indeed  will  have 
her  due,  but  yet  whatsoever  is  beyond  neces- 
sity, is  precarious,  and  not  necessary.  It  is  not 
her  business  to  gratify  the  palate,  but  to  satisfy 
a  craving  stomach:  bread,  when  a  man  is  hun- 
gry, does  his  work,  let  it  be  never  so  coarse ; 
and  water  when  he  is  adry ;  let  his  thirst  be 
quenched,  and  nature  is  satisfied;  no  matter 
whence  it  comes,  or  whether  he  drinks  in  gold, 
silver,  or  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand.  To  prom- 
ise a  man  riches,  and  to  teach  him  poverty,  is 
to  deceive  him :  but  shall  I  call  him  poor,  that 
wants  nothing;  though  he  may  be  beholden 
for  it  to  his  patience,  rather  than  to  his  for- 
tune? Or  shall  any  man  deny  him  to  be 
rich,  whose  riches  can  never  be  taken  away? 
Whether  it  is  better  to  have  much  or  enough? 
He  that  has  much  desires  more,  which  shows 
that  he  has  not  yet  enough;  but  he  that  has 
enough  is  at  rest. 

12.   Of  Anger. 

We  have  here  to  encounter  the  most  dan- 
gerous, outrageous,  brutal  and  intractable  of 

235 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

all  passions;  the  most  loathsome  and  un- 
mannerly ;  nay,  the  most  ridiculous  too ;  and 
the  subduing  of  this  monster  will  do  a  great 
deal  toward  the  establishment  of  human 
peace.  .  .  . 

Anger  is  not  only  a  vice,  but  a  vice  point- 
blank  against  nature ;  for  it  divides,  instead  of 
joining;  and  in  some  measure  frustrates  the 
end  of  providence  in  human  society.  One 
man  was  born  to  help  another;  anger  makes 
us  destroy  one  another;  the  one  unites,  the 
other  separates ;  the  one  is  beneficial  to  us, 
the  other  mischievous ;  the  one  succors  even 
strangers,  the  other  destroys  the  most  inti- 
mate friends ;  the  one  ventures  all  to  save  an- 
other, the  other  ruins  himself  to  undo  another. 
Nature  is  bountiful,  but  anger  is  pernicious ; 
for  it  is  not  fear,  but  mutual  love,  that  binds 
up  mankind. 

13.   Consolation  in  exile. 

Man's  best  gifts  lie  beyond  the  power  of 
man  either  to  give  or  to  take  away.  This  uni- 
verse, the  grandest  and  loveliest  work  of  na- 
ture, and  the  intellect  which  was  created  to 

236 


SELECTIONS— SENECA 

observe  and  to  admire  it,  are  our  special  and 
eternal  possessions,  which  shall  last  as  long 
as  we  last  ourselves.  Cheerful,  therefore,  and 
erect,  let  us  hasten  with  undaunted  footsteps 
whithersoever  our  fortunes  lead  us. 

There  is  no  land  where  man  cannot  dwell, 
—  no  land  where  he  cannot  uplift  his  eyes  to 
heaven.  Wherever  we  are,  the  distance  of  the 
divine  from  the  human  remains  the  same. 
So  then,  so  long  as  my  eyes  are  not  robbed 
of  that  spectacle  with  which  they  cannot  be 
satiated,  so  long  I  may  look  upon  the  sun 
and  moon,  and  fix  my  lingering  gaze  on  the 
other  constellations,  and  consider  their  rising 
and  setting  and  the  spaces  between  them  and 
the  causes  of  their  less  and  greater  speed,  — 
while  I  may  contemplate  the  multitude  of 
stars  glittering  throughout  the  heaven,  some 
stationary,  some  revolving,  some  suddenly 
blazing  forth,  others  dazzling  the  gaze  with 
a  flood  of  fire  as  though  they  fell,  and  others 
leaving  over  a  long  space  their  trails  of  light ; 
while  I  am  in  the  midst  of  such  phenomena, 
and  mingle  myself,  as  far  as  a  man  may,  with 
things  celestial,  —  while  my  soul  is  ever  oc- 

237 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

cupied  in  contemplations  so  sublime  as  these, 
what  matters  it  what  ground  I  tread  ? 

What  though  fortune  has  thrown  me  where 
the  most  magnificent  abode  is  but  a  cottage  ? 
The  humblest  cottage,  if  it  be  but  the  home 
of  virtue,  may  be  more  beautiful  than  all 
temples  ;  no  place  is  narrow  which  can  con- 
tain the  crowd  of  glorious  virtues;  no  exile 
severe  into  which  you  may  go  with  such  a 

reliance. 

14.  Profitable  reading. 

Take  care  lest  your  habit  of  reading  many 
authors  and  all  sorts  of  books,  involve  giddi- 
ness and  inconstancy  of  mind.  If  you  would 
extract  anything  that  may  settle  permanently 
in  your  memory,  you  must  dwell  and  feed 
upon  a  few  choice  and  definite  spirits.  He  is 
nowhere  that  is  everywhere.  Those  who  pass 
their  life  in  travel  find  many  inns,  but  form  no 
friendships  ;  and  it  is  necessarily  the  same  with 
those  who  devote  themselves  closely  to  no  one 
work  of  genius,  but  hastily  skim  every  book 
they  come  across.  That  meat  can  never  benefit, 
nor  be  assimilated  with,  the  body,  which  is  no 
sooner  taken  in  than  it  is  passed  out.  .  .  . 

238 


SELECTIONS— SENECA 

"  But  [you  tell  me]  1  like  to  turn  over  now 
this  work  and  now  that."  Ah  !  it  is  only  a 
dainty  stomach  that  is  fond  of  tasting  numer- 
ous and  diverse  dishes,  which  disorder  and  do 
not  nourish  it.  Therefore  I  say,  always  read 
well  approved  authors ;  and  if  at  any  time  you 
turn  for  amusement  to  others,  still  always 
come  back  to  the  former. 

Procure  every  day  from  them  some  help 
against  poverty,  death,  and  other  plagues  of 
humanity  ;  and  after  running  through  several 
such  passages,  pick  out  some  one  that  you 
may  on  that  day  inwardly  digest. 

This  I  always  do  myself;  out  of  the  many 
things  I  read,  I  select  a  particular  one  to  appre- 
ciate. 

15.   The  discipline  of  God. 

Those  whom  God  approves  and  loves,  he 
examines,  tries,  and  hardens;  such  as  he  ap- 
pears to  favor  and  to  spare,  only  become  ef- 
feminate, and  are  reserved  by  him  for  evil  to 
come. 

For  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  any  one 
is  exempt  from  ills;  however  long  his  pros- 
perity may  have  lasted,  his  share  will  come  at 

239 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

length.  It  may  seem  to  have  been  remitted;  it 
is  but  deferred.  Why  does  God  visit  the  best 
of  men  with  ill  health,  or  affliction,  or  troubles 
of  other  kinds?  On  the  same  principle  that 
in  war  the  bravest  soldiers  have  the  hazard- 
ous enterprises  entrusted  to  them,  and  it  is 
the  picked  men  whom  the  general  sends  to  a 
night  attack,  to  reconnoitre  a  road,  or  storm  a 
fortress.  In  their  case  no  one  thinks  of  saying, 
"  My  general  has  dealt  hardly  with  me,"  but 
rather,  "He  must  have  thought  highly  of 
me";  such  should  be  the  language  of  those 
who  are  called  to  suffer  what  none  but  cow- 
ards and  weaklings  grieve  at.  It  just  comes  to 
this,  that  God  has  deemed  us  worthy  subjects 
whereon  to  try  how  much  human  nature  could 
bear. 

1 6.    The  presence  of  God  in  man. 

We  need  not  lift  our  hands  to  heaven,  nor 
beseech  the  sacristan  for  permission  to  ap- 
proach the  idol's  ear,  as  though  we  should 
be  heard  the  better  for  that. 

No!  God  is  near  you,  with  you,  in  you. 

There  dwells  within  us  (believe  me)  a  holy 
spirit,  the  watcher  and  guardian  of  all  we  do, 

240 


SELECTIONS — SENECA 

good  or  bad.  According  as  we  deal  with  him 
so  he  deals  with  us.  No  one  is  virtuous  with- 
out God's  influence,  and  no  one  without  his 
aid  can  rise  superior  to  fortune :  he  it  is  from 
whom  all  high  and  noble  counsels  proceed. 

17.  The  eye  of  God. 

So  must  we  live  as  under  the  eye  of  One; 
so  must  we  think  as  though  One  could  look 
into  our  inmost  heart.  For  what  is  the  good 
of  hiding  anything  from  man,  when  from 
God  no  secrets  are  hid?  He  is  present  to 
our  minds;  he  enters  into  the  very  core  of 
our  thoughts. 

So  should  we  live  with  our  fellow  men  as 
in  the  sight  of  God;  so  should  we  speak  to 
God,  as  within  the  hearing  of  man. 

1 8.  What  is  God? 

What  is  God?  The  mind  of  the  universe. 
What  is  he?  All  that  you  see,  and  all  that 
you  do  not  see. 

Guide  and  guardian  of  the  universe;  soul 
and  spirit  of  the  world ;  builder  and  master  of 
so  great  a  work  —  to  him  all  names  belong. 

241 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

Would  you  call  him  Destiny?  You  will  not 
err:  cause  of  causes,  on  him  all  depends.  Had 
you  rather  say  Providence?  This  will  be  right : 
by  his  plan  the  world  is  watched  over,  so  that 
it  goes  safely  through  its  motions.  Or  Nature? 
This  title  does  him  no  wrong:  of  him  are  all 
things  born,  and  in  him  we  live.  Or  Universe? 
You  are  not  mistaken:  he  is  all  that  we  see, 
wholly  present  in  every  part,  and  sustaining  all 

things. 

19.   The  worship  of  God. 

Worship  will  never  be  satisfactory  till  a 
right  conception  has  bee'n  formed  of  God  as 
possessing  all  things,  and  bestowing  all  things 
freely  in  love.  To  believe  in  the  gods  is  the 
first  step  in  worship,  the  next  is  to  ascribe  to 
them  their  proper  majesty,  and,  what  is  essen- 
tial to  majesty,  the  attribute  of  goodness;  and 
then  to  feel  that  it  is  the  gods  who  govern 
the  world,  who  guide  all  things  by  their  power, 
who  exercise  guardianship  over  the  human 
race  while  not  neglecting  the  individual. 
They  neither  inflict,  nor  are  susceptible  of, 
harm  ;  though  offenders  they  correct,  coerce, 
condemn,  and  sometimes  visit  with  punish- 

242 


SELECTIONS— SENECA 

ment  in  the  form  of  blessing.  If  you  would 
win  the  divine  favor,  you  have  only  to  be 
virtuous  ;  the  truest  worship  of  the  gods  is  to 
imitate  them. 

20.  Prayer  as  evidence  of  divine  providence. 

I  know  that  it  is  contended  that  God  be- 
stows no  blessings  on  us  at  all,  but  is  indif- 
ferent and  regardless,  not  deigning  to  look 
upon  the  world,  either  busied  about  other 
matter,  or  (what  Epicurus  thought  to  be  the 
height  of  bliss)  doing  nothing  at  all,  and  un- 
affected alike  by  benefits  or  injuries.  The 
man  who  maintains  this  can  never  have  heard 
the  accents  of  prayers  nor  the  vows  every- 
where made  with  uplifted  hands  to  heaven  as 
well  in  private  as  in  public.  Surely  this  would 
never  be  done,  and  the  whole  of  mankind 
could  never  have  joined  in  such  madness  as 
to  implore  deaf  gods  who  had  no  power  to 
help,  but  that  they  were  sure  that  the  gods 
bestow  benefits,  sometimes  of  their  own  proper 
motion,  at  other  times  in  answer  to  prayer, 
and  that  such  benefits  are  large,  reasonable, 
and  efficacious  in  freeing  them  from  great 

243 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

and  impending  danger.  Is  there  a  single  be- 
ing so  wretched,  so  despised,  so  born  to  a  hard 
and  penal  destiny  as  not  to  have  experienced 
at  one  time  or  another  this  liberality  of  the 
gods? 


244 


XIV 

SELECTIONS    FROM    MARCUS 
AURELIUS' 

i.   Charity  for  everybody. 

WHEN  you  wake,  say  to  yourself —  to-day 
I  shall  encounter  meddling,  ingratitude,  vio- 
lence, cunning,  malice,  self-seeking ;  all  of 
them  the  results  of  men  not  knowing  what 
is  good  and  what  is  evil.  But  as  for  me  who 
have  understood  the  nature  of  the  good,  that 
it  is  beautiful,  and  of  the  evil,  that  it  is  ugly, 
and  also  the  nature  of  the  offender  himself, 
that  he  is  related  to  me  not  by  community  of 
flesh  and  blood,  but  in  the  same  mind  and 
partnership  with  the  divine,  I  cannot  be  in- 
jured by  any  of  them  ;  for  no  one  can  force 
me  into  what  is  disgraceful,  nor  can  I  hate,  or 
be  angry  with,  one  who  is  related  to  me.  For 
we  are  made  for  co-operation,  like  feet,  like 

1  Selections  from  the  "  Meditations  "  of  Marcus  Aure- 
lius. 

245 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

hands,  like  eyelids,  like  the  rows  of  the  upper 
and  lower  teeth. 

To  act  against  one  another  then  is  con- 
trary to  nature ;  and  it  is  acting  against  one 
another  to  show  resentment  or  aversion. 

2.   The  ordering  of  providence. 

All  that  is  from  the  gods  is  full  of  provi- 
dence. That  which  is  from  fortune  is  not 
separated  from  nature  or  without  an  inter- 
weaving and  involution  with  the  things  which 
are  ordered  by  providence.  From  thence  all 
things  flow ;  and  there  -is  besides  necessity, 
and  that  which  is  for  the  advantage  of  the 
whole  universe,  of  which  you  are  a  part.  To 
every  part  of  nature  that  which  nature  brings, 
and  which  helps  towards  its  conservation,  is 
good.  The  conservation  of  the  world-order 
depends  not  only  on  the  changes  of  the  ele- 
ments, but  also  on  those  of  the  compounded 
wholes.  Be  content  with  what  you  have,  find 
there  your  principles  of  life.  But  cast  away 
the  thirst  after  books,  that  you  may  not  die 
murmuring,  but  cheerfully,  truly,  and  from 
the  heart  thankful  to  the  gods. 

246 


SELECTIONS  —  MARCUS  AURELIUS 

Think  how  long  you  have  gone  on  post- 
poning, how  often  the  gods  have  granted 
days  of  grace,  which  you  have  failed  to  use. 
It  is  high  time  to  give  heed  to  the  order  of 
which  you  are  a  part,  and  to  the  great  dis- 
poser, of  whom  your  being  is  an  effluence,  and 
to  note  that  a  limit  of  time  is  fixed  for  you, 
which  if  you  do  not  use  for  clearing  away  the 
clouds  from  your  mind,  it  will  go  and  you 
will  go,  and  you  will  never  return. 

3.   The  right  way  of  living. 

Do  not  waste  the  remainder  of  life  in  re- 
garding other  men,  except  when  bent  upon 
some  unselfish  gain.  For  you  lose  the  oppor- 
tunity of  doing  something  else  when  you  have 
such  thoughts  as  these :  what  is  such  a  person 
doing,  and  why,  and  what  is  he  saying,  and 
what  is  he  thinking  of,  and  what  is  he  con- 
triving, and  whatever  else  of  the  kind  makes 
us  wander  away  from  the  observation  of  our 
own  ruling  power.  We  ought  then  to  check 
in  the  series  of  our  thoughts  everything  that 
is  without  a  purpose  and  useless,  and  above 
all,  meddling  and  ill  nature ;  and  a  man 

247 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

should  use  himself  to  think  of  those  things 
only  about  which  if  one  should  suddenly  ask, 
"What  is  in  your  thoughts  now? '  with  per- 
fect truth  you  might  immediately  answer,  that 
all  your  thoughts  were  simple  and  in  charity, 
such  as  befit  a  social  being,  who  eschews  vo- 
luptuous or  even  self-indulgent  fancies,  or 
jealousy  of  any  kind,  or  malice  and  suspicion, 
or  any  other  mood  which  one  would  blush 
to  own.  A  man  so  minded,  and  committed 
finally  to  the  pursuit  of  virtue,  is  indeed  a 
priest  and  minister  of  gods,  true  to  that  in- 
ward and  implanted  power,  which  keeps  a 
man  unsoiled  by  pleasure,  invulnerable  by 
pain,  free  from  all  touch  of  arrogance,  inno- 
cent of  all  baseness,  a  combatant  in  the  great- 
est of  all  combats,  which  is  the  mastery  of 
passion,  steeped  in  justice  to  the  core,  and 
with  his  whole  heart  welcoming  all  that  be- 
falls him  as  his  portion  ;  seldom,  and  only  in 
view  of  some  large  unselfish  gain,  does  he 
regard  what  other  men  say  or  do  or  think.  In 
action  his  own  conduct  is  his  sole  concern, 
and  he  realizes  without  fail  the  web  of  his  own 
destiny ;  action  he  makes  high,  convinced 

248 


SELECTIONS  —  MARCUS  AURELIUS 

that  destiny  is  good;  for  his  apportioned  des- 
tiny sweeps  man  on  with  the  vaster  sweep  of 
things. 

And  he  remembers  also  that  every  rational 
creature  is  his  kinsman,  and  that  to  care  for 
all  men  is  according  to  man's  nature  ;  and  a 
man  should  hold  on  to  the  opinion  not  of  all, 
but  of  those  only  who  confessedly  live  accord- 
ing to  nature.  But  as  to  those  who  live  not 
so,  he  always  bears  in  mind  what  kind  of 
men  they  are  both  at  home  and  from  home  ; 
both  by  night  and  by  day,  and  what  they  are, 
and  with  what  men  they  live  an  impure  life. 
Accordingly  he  does  not  value  at  all  the 
praise  which  comes  from  such  men,  since  they 
are  not  even  satisfied  with  themselves. 

4.   The  blessings  of  retirement. 

Men  seek  retreats  for  themselves,  houses 
in  the  country,  sea-shores,  and  mountains  ; 
and  you,  too,  know  full  well  what  that  yearn- 
ing means.  But  this  is  altogether  a  mark  of 
the  most  common  sort  of  men,  for  it  is  in 
your  power,  whenever  you  choose,  to  retire 
into  yourself.  For  nowhere  either  with  more 

249 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN   STOICISM 

quiet  or  more  freedom  from  trouble  does  a 
man  retire  than  into  his  own  soul,  particularly 
when  he  has  within  him  such  thoughts  that 
by  looking  into  them  he  is  immediately  in 
perfect  tranquillity ;  and  I  affirm  that  tran- 
quillity is  nothing  else  than  the  good  order- 
ing of  the  mind.  Ever  and  anon  grant  yourself 
this  retirement;  and  so  renew  yourself.  Have 
a  few  principles  brief  and  elemental,  recur- 
rence to  which  will  suffice  to  shut  out  the 
court  and  all  its  ways,  and  anon  send  you 
back  unchafing  to  the  tasks  to  which  you 
must  return. 

With  what  are  you  discontented  ?  With 
the  badness  of  men  ?  Recall  to  your  mind 
this  conclusion,  that  rational  creatures  exist 
for  one  another,  and  that  to  endure  is  a  part 
of  justice,  and  that  men  do  wrong  involun- 
tarily ;  and  consider  how  many  already,  after 
mutual  enmity,  suspicion,  hatred,  and  fighting, 
have  been  stretched  dead,  reduced  to  ashes; 
and  be  quiet  at  last. —  Or  is  it  the  portion 
assigned  you  in  the  universe,  with  which  you 
are  dissatisfied  ?  Recall  to  mind  the  alterna- 
tive— either  a  foreseeing  providence,  or  blind 

250 


SELECTIONS  —  MARCUS  AURELIUS 

atoms  —  and  all  the  abounding  proofs  that 
the  world  is  as  it  were  a  city.  Or  is  it  bodily 
troubles  that  assail  ?  Consider  then  further 
that  the  mind  mingles  not  with  the  breath, 
whether  moving  gently  or  violently,  when  it 
has  once  drawn  itself  apart  and  discovered  its 
own  power.  Or  does  some  bubble  of  fame 
torment  you  ?  Then  fix  your  gaze  on  swift 
oblivion,  on  the  gulf  of  infinity  this  way  and 
that,  on  the  empty  rattle  of  plaudits  and  the 
indiscriminating  fickleness  of  professed  ap- 
plause, on  the  narrow  range  within  which  you 
are  circumscribed.  For  the  whole  earth  is  a 
point,  and  how  small  a  nook  in  it  is  this  your 
dwelling,  and  how  few  are  there  in  it,  and 
what  kind  of  people  are  they  who  will  praise 
you. 

This  then  remains.  Remember  to  retire 
into  this  territory  of  your  own.  Above  all  do 
not  strain  or  strive,  but  be  free,  and  look  at 
things  as  a  man,  as  a  human  being,  as  a 
citizen,  as  a  mortal.  But  among  the  things 
readiest  to  your  hand  to  which  you  shall  turn, 
let  there  be  these,  which  are  two — first,  things 
cannot  touch  the  soul,  but  stand  without  it 

251 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

stationary  ;  tumult  can  arise  only  from  views 
within  ourselves :  secondly,  all  things  you  see, 
in  a  moment  change  and  will  be  no  more ; 
ay,  think  of  all  the  changes  in  which  you  have 
yourself  borne  part.  The  world  is  a  process 
of  variation  ;  life  a  process  of  views. 

5.    The  universe  as  a  living  organism. 

Constantly  regard  the  universe  as  a  living 
organism,  having  one  substance  and  one  soul ; 
and  observe  how  all  things  have  reference  to 
one  perception,  the  perception  of  this  one 
living  being ;  and  how  all  things  act  with  one 
movement ;  and  all  cooperate  towards  all  that 
come  to  pass  ;  observe  too  the  continuous 
spinning  of  the  thread  and  the  contexture  of 
the  web. 

Thou  art  a  little  soul  bearing  about  a 
corpse,  as  Epictetus  said. 

It  is  no  evil  for  things  to  undergo  change, 
and  no  good  for  things  to  subsist  in  conse- 
quence of  change. 

Time  is  like  a  river  made  up  of  the  events 
which  happen,  .and  a  violent  stream;  for  as 
soon  as  a  thing  has  been  seen,  it  is  carried 

252 


SELECTIONS  —  MARCUS  AURELIUS 

away,  and  another  comes  in  its  place,  and  this 
will  be  carried  away  too. 

All  that  happens  is  as  accustomed  and  fa- 
miliar as  spring  rose,  or  summer  fruit;  so  it 
is  with  disease,  death,  slander,  intrigue,  and 
all  else  that  joys  or  vexes  fools. 

6.   The  wrong  fulness  of  sloth. 

In  the  morning  when  you  feel  loth  to  rise, 
let  this  thought  be  present  to  you :  I  am  get- 
ting up  to  perform  the  duty  of  a  man ;  why 
then  am  I  out  of  humor,  if  I  am  going  to 
do  the  very  things  for  which  I  was  born,  and 
have  been  brought  into  the  world?  Or,  was  I 
made  only  for  this,  that  I  might  lie  abed  and 
keep  warm  beneath  the  sheets?  But  (do  you 
say?)  this  is  more  comfortable.  Were  you 
then  born  only  to  be  comfortable,  and  not 
rather  for  action  and  exertion?  Do  you  not 
observe  how  the  plants  and  birds,  the  ants 
and  spiders  and  the  bees  contribute  to  im- 
prove their  several  departments  of  the  uni- 
verse; and  yet  do  you  refuse  to  perform  the 
duties  of  a  human  being,  slow  to  act  accord- 
ing to  your  nature?  But,  say  you,  one  requires 

253 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

rest  as  well  as  work.  True !  but  then  Nature 
has  assigned  limits  to  this  also,  just  as  she  has 
done  in  regard  to  eating  and  drinking;  and 
yet  you  go  beyond  these  limits,  beyond  what 
is  sufficient.  In  your  action,  on  the  contrary, 
it  is  not  so,  but  you  stop  short  of  what  you 
could  do ;  for  you  have  no  true  love  for  your- 
self; else  you  would  love  both  your  own 
nature  and  that  nature's  purpose. 

Why!  those,  for  instance,  who  love  their 
trade  will  wear  themselves  out  at  work,  re- 
gardless of  washing  and  food;  and  yet  you 
honor  your  own  nature  less  than  the  turner 
his  art  of  turning,  or  the  dancer  his  skill  in 
dancing,  less  than  the  miser  his  coin,  or  the 
vainglorious  man  his  pretty  praise.  Such  per- 
sons, moreover,  when  passionately  inclined  to 
anything,  care  neither  for  food  nor  sleep,  com- 
pared with  advancing  what  they  are  set  upon; 
and  yet  do  you  regard  social  actions  as  of  less 
value,  or  deserving  of  less  devotion. 

7.  Man  made  for  cooperation. 

One  and  all  we  work  towards  one  consum- 
mation, some  knowingly  and  intelligently, 

254 


SELECTIONS  —  MARCUS  AURELIUS 

others  unconsciously.  Just  as  Heraclitus,  was 
it  not,  said  of  those  who  sleep,  that  they  too 
are  at  work,  fellow-workers  in  the  conduct  of 
the  universe.  But  men  work  together  in  dif- 
ferent ways;  nay,  even  the  man  who  com- 
plains and  endeavors  to  resist  and  subvert 
the  course  of  things,  does  a  full  share  of  co- 
operation; for  the  universe  had  need  of  even 
such  persons  as  these.  Consider,  therefore, 
among  whom  you  range  yourself;  for  you 
may  be  sure  that  he  who  governs  all  things 
will  make  some  good  use  of  you,  and  welcome 
you  into  the  ranks  of  those  who  are  engaged 
in,  or  disposed  to,  cooperative  service. 

8.  Man  s  true  interest. 

If  the  gods  took  counsel  about  me  and 
what  ought  to  befall  me,  doubtless  they  coun- 
selled well ;  a  god  of  ill  counsel  one  can  scarce 
imagine.  And  what  should  impel  them  to  seek 
my  hurt?  What  advantage  were  it  either  to 
them  or  to  the  universe,  which  is  the  first  ob- 
ject of  their  providence?  But  if  the  gods  have 
not  decreed  anything  about  me  individually, 
they  have  at  all  events  certainly  decreed  about 

255 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

the  general  course  of  things;  and  whatever 
happens  by  way  of  consequence  therefrom,  I 
am  bound  to  welcome  and  be  content  with. 
But  if  perchance  they  make  no  decree  about 
anything, —  a  wicked  belief  to  entertain,  for 
then  we  must  give  up  sacrifices  and  prayers, 
and  adjurations,  and  everything  else  we  do  on 
the  faith  of  the  gods  being  present  and  living 
with  us,  —  if,  1  say,  they  make  no  decree 
about  what  concerns  us,  I  am  free  in  that 
case  to  provide  for  myself,  and  it  belongs  to 
me  to  consider  what  is  for  my  interest.  But 
the  true  interest  of  every  man  is  that  which  is 
conformable  to  his  constitution  and  nature; 
and  my  nature  is  rational  and  social.  My  city 
and  country,  so  far  as  I  am  Antoninus,  is 
Rome ;  so  far  as  I  am  a  human  being,  it  is  the 
world. 

These  are  the  societies,  whose  advantage 
can  alone  be  good  for  me. 

9.  Life  a  mimic  pageant. 

What  is  evil?  It  is  what  you  have  seen 
again  and  again.  And  on  the  occasion  of 
everything  which  happens  keep  this  in  mind, 

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SELECTIONS  —  MARCUS  AURELIUS 

that  it  is  that  which  you  have  often  seen. 
Everywhere,  up  and  down,  you  will  find  the 
same  things,  with  which  the  old  histories  are 
filled,  those  mediaeval  are  those  of  our  own 
day  ;  repeating  themselves  every  day  in  our 
own  cities  and  homes.  There  is  nothing  new  ; 
all  is  stale  and  fleeting. 

How  can  our  principles  become  dead,  un- 
less the  impressions  which  correspond  to  them 
are  extinguished  ?  But  it  is  your  power  con- 
tinuously to  fan  these  thoughts  into  a  flame. 
I  can  have  that  opinion  about  anything,  which 
I  ought  to  have.  If  I  can,  why  am  I  dis- 
turbed ?  The  things  which  are  external  to  my 
mind  have  no  relation  at  all  to  my  mind.  — 
Grasp  that,  and  you  stand  upright ;  you  can 
ever  renew  your  life.  See  things  once  more 
as  you  saw  them  before ;  and  therein  you  have 
new  life. 

A  mimic  pageant,  plays  on  the  stage,  flocks 
of  sheep,  exercises  with  spears,  a  bone  cast  to 
dogs,  a  crumb  dropped  in  the  fish-tanks,  la- 
boring of  ants  and  burden-carrying,  the  scam- 
per of  scurrying  mice,  puppets  pulled  by 
strings  —  such  is  life.  In  such  surroundings 

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GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

you  must  take  your  stand,  considerate  and  un- 
disdainful ;  yet  understand  the  while,  that  the 
measure  of  the  man's  worth  is  the  worth  of  his 

aims. 

10.  Self  introspection. 

A  scowl  upon  the  face  is  a  violation  of  na- 
ture ;  when  it  is  often  assumed,  the  result  is 
that  all  comeliness  dies  away,  and  at  last  is  so 
completely  extinguished  that  it  is  past  all  re- 
kindling. Try  to  conclude  from  this  very  fact 
that  it  is  contrary  to  reason;  if  once  sensibility 
to  sin  is  lost,  what  object  in  still  living  on  ? 

Nature  which  governs  the  whole  will  soon 
change  all  things  which  you  see,  and  out  of 
their  substance  will  make  other  things,  and 
again  other  things  from  the  substance  of  them, 
in  order  that  the  world  may  be  ever  new. 

When  any  one  does  you  a  wrong,  set  your- 
self at  once  to  consider,  what  was  the  point 
of  view,  good  or  bad,  that  led  him  wrong. 
As  soon  as  you  perceive  it,  you  will  be  sorry 
for  him,  not  surprised  or  angry.  For  your 
own  view  of  good  is  either  the  same  as  his,  or 
something  like  in  kind  ;  and  you  will  make 
allowance.  Or  supposing  your  own  view  of 

258 


SELECTIONS  —  MARCUS  AURELIUS 

good  and  bad  has  altered,  you  will  find  chanty 
for  his  mistakes  come  easier. 

1 1 .   The  pursuit  of  happiness. 

One  good  corrective  to  vainglory  is  to  re- 
member that  you  cannot  claim  to  have  lived 
your  entire  life,  nor  even  from  youth  up,  as 
a  philosopher.  But  both  to  many  others  and 
to  yourself  it  is  plain  that  you  are  far  from 
philosophy.  You  have  fallen  into  disorder 
then,  so  that  it  is  no  longer  easy  for  you  to 
get  the  reputation  of  a  philosopher;  and  your 
plan  of  life  also  opposes  it.  Now  that  your 
eyes  are  really  open  to  what  the  facts  are, 
never  mind  what  others  think  of  you  ;  be 
self-content,  if  only  for  life's  remainder,  just 
so  long  as  nature  wills  you  to  live  on.  You 
have  but  to  apprehend  that  will,  and  let  noth- 
ing else  distract  you  ;  you  have  tried  much, 
and  in  misguided  ways,  and  nowhere  have 
you  found  the  unhappy  life ;  not  in  systems, 
nor  wealth,  nor  fame,  nor  self-indulgence,  no- 
where. Where  then  is  happiness  ?  In  doing 
that  which  man's  nature  craves.  How  do  it? 
By  holding  principles  from  which  come  en- 

259 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

deavors  and  actions.  What  principles  ?  Prin- 
ciples touching  good  and  bad  —  to  wit,  that 
nothing  is  good  for  a  man,  which  does  not 
make  him  just,  temperate,  brave,  free ;  noth- 
ing evil,  that  does  not  produce  opposite 
results. 

On  the  occasion  of  every  act  ask  yourself: 
How  is  this  with  respect  to  me  P  Shall  I  re- 
pent of  it  ?  A  little  time  and  I  am  dead,  and 
all  is  gone.  What  more  do  I  seek,  if  what  I 
am  now  doing  is  the  work  of  an  intelligent 
human  being,  and  a  social  being,  and  one  who 
is  under  the  same  law  with  God  P 

12.    The  object  of  life. 

In  every  action  try  to  make  life  a  whole:  if 
each,  so  far  as  it  can,  contributes  its  part,  be 
satisfied;  and  that,  no  man  can  hinder. — 
"Some  outer  obstacle,"  you  say,  "will  inter- 
fere."—  "  Nay,  but  nothing  can  touch  the  jus- 
tice, wisdom,  reasonableness  of  the  intention." 
— "But  may  not  some  form  of  action  be  pre- 
vented ? " — "  Possibly ;  but  by  welcoming  that 
prevention,  and  with  a  good  grace  adopting 
the  alternative,  you  at  once  substitute  a  course 

260 


SELECTIONS  — MARCUS  AURELIUS 

that  will  fit  into  its  place  in  the  whole  we  have 


in  view.' 


Modestly  take,  cheerfully  resign. 

13.   The  present  to  be  lived  for,  not  the  past. 

Do  not  disturb  yourself  by  thinking  of  the 
whole  of  your  life.  Let  not  your  thoughts  at 
once  embrace  all  the  various  troubles  which 
you  may  expect  to  befall  you;  but  as  each 
trouble  comes,  say  to  yourself,  what  is  there 
here  too  hard  to  bear  or  to  endure?  and  you 
will  be  ashamed  to  confess.  And  yet  again 
remember,  that  you  have  not  to  bear  up 
against  the  future  or  the  past,  but  always 
against  the  present  only.  But  this  is  reduced 
to  a  very  little,  when  you  strictly  circumscribe 
it  to  itself,  and  repudiate  moral  inability  to 
hold  out  merely  against  that. 

14.  Death  should  be  welcomed. 

Do  not  despise  death,  but  accept  it  cheer- 
fully, as  being  one  of  those  events  which 
nature  wills.  As  youth  and  age,  as  growth 
and  prime,  as  the  coming  of  teeth  and  beard 
and  gray  hairs,  as  begetting  and  pregnancy 

261 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

and  bearing  of  children,  as  all  other  operations 
of  nature,  which  come  with  the  seasons  of  your 
life,  such  also  is  the  process  of  dissolution.  A 
thoughtful  man  therefore  will  not  regard  death 
in  a  careless,  impatient  and  contemptuous 
spirit,  but  will  wait  for  it  as  one  of  the  opera- 
tions of  nature.  Just  as  you  wait  now  for  the 
time  when  the  embryo  shall  issue  from  the 
womb  of  your  wife,  so  should  you  be  expect- 
ing the  hour  when  your  soul  shall  drop  out  of 
its  shell.  But  if  you  want,  besides,  a  common- 
place consideration  to  touch  and  console  your 
heart,  you  will  be  most  favorably  disposed 
towards  death,  if  you  reflect  on  the  objects 
you  are  about  to  part  with,  and  the  characters 
with  which  your  soul  will  cease  to  converse. 
Far  be  it  to  take  offence  at  them;  nay,  rather, 
care  for  them  and  deal  gently  with  them; 
yet  remember,  that  you  are  parting  with  men 
whose  principles  are  not  your  principles.  The 
one  thing,  if  any,  which  could  hold  you  back 
and  chain  you  still  to  life,  would  be  com- 
panionship of  kindred  spirits.  As  it  is,  how- 
ever, you  see  what  great  trouble  arises  from 
the  want  of  harmony  in  those  who  live  to- 

262 


SELECTIONS  —  MARCUS  AURELIUS 

gether,  enough  to  make  one  cry,  "Come 
quickly,  O  Death,  for  fear  I  too  forget  my- 
self!" 

15.   The  inner  self. 

Hasten  (to  examine)  your  own  inner  self 
and  that  of  the  universe  and  that  of  your 
neighbor;  your  own  that  you  may  make  it 
just;  and  that  of  the  universe,  that  you  may 
remember  of  what  you  are  a  part;  and  that 
of  your  neighbor,  that  you  may  know  whether 
he  has  acted  ignorantly  or  with  knowledge, 
and  that  you  may  also  take  into  account  the 
bond  of  brotherhood. 

As  you  yourself  are  a  component  part  of 
a  social  system,  so  let  every  act  of  yours  be  a 
component  part  of  social  life.  Any  action  of 
yours  that  does  not  tend,  directly  or  remotely, 
to  this  social  end,  dislocates  life  and  infringes 
its  unity.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  a  mutiny,  just 
as  when  in  a  popular  assembly,  a  man  acting 
by  himself  stands  apart  from  the  general 
agreement. 

1 6.  Impulses  and  actions  should  govern. 

Let  there  be  freedom  from  perturbations 

263 


GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

with  respect  to  the  things  which  come  from 
external  cause  ;  and  let  there  be  justice  in  the 
things  done  by  virtue  of  the  internal  cause  ; 
in  other  words,  let  impulse  and  act  make 
social  action  their  one  end,  and  so  fulfil  the 
law  of  nature. 

The  agitations  that  beset  you  are  superflu- 
ous, and  depend  wholly  upon  judgments  of 
your  own.  You  can  rid  yourself  of  them,  and 
in  so  doing  will  indeed  live  at  large,  by  em- 
bracing the  whole  universe  in  your  view  and 
comprehending  all  eternity  and  imagining  the 
swiftness  of  change  in  each  particular,  seeing 
how  short  is  the  time  from  birth  to  dissolu- 
tion, and  the  illimitable  time  before  birth  as 
well  as  the  equally  boundless  time  after  dis- 
solution. 

All  that  you  see  will  quickly  perish,  and 
those  who  have  been  spectators  of  its  dissolu- 
tion will  very  soon  perish  too.  And  he  who  dies 
at  the  extremest  old  age  will  be  brought  into 
the  same  condition  with  him  who  died  prema- 
turely. 

17.    The  soul  at  peace. 

Wilt  thou  one  day,  O  my  soul,  be  good 

264 


SELECTIONS  —  MARCUS  AURELIUS 

and  simple,  all  one,  all  naked,  more  manifest 
than  the  body  which  surrounds  thee?  Wilt 
thou  never  enjoy  an  affectionate  and  con- 
tented disposition  ?  Wilt  thou  never  be  full 
and  without  a  want  of  any  kind,  longing  for 
nothing  more,  nor  desiring  anything,  either 
animate  or  inanimate,  for  the  enjoyment  of 
pleasures  ?  nor  yet  desiring  time  wherein  thou 
shalt  have  longer  enjoyment,  or  place,  or 
pleasant  climate,  or  society  of  men  with  whom 
thou  mayst  live  in  harmony  ?  Wilt  thou  be 
content  with  thine  actual  estate  ?  happy  in  all 
thou  hast  ?  Convinced  that  all  things  are 
thine,  that  all  is  well  with  thee,  that  all  comes 
from  the  gods,  that  all  must  be  well  which  is 
their  good  pleasure,  and  which  they  bring  to 
pass  for  the  salvation  of  the  living  whole, 
good,  just  and  beautiful,  from  which  all  things 
have  their  being,  their  unity  and  their  scope, 
and  into  which  they  are  received  at  dissolu- 
tion for  the  production  of  new  forms  of  being 
like  themselves  ?  Wilt  thou  never  be  such 
that  thou  shalt  so  dwell  in  community  with 
gods  and  men  as  neither  to  find  fault  with 
them  at  all,  nor  to  be  condemned  by  them  ? 

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1 8.  Do  not  belie  your  good  attributes. 

When  you  have  claimed  for  yourself  the 
attributes  good,  modest,  true,  open-minded, 
even-minded,  high-minded,  take  care  that  you 
do  not  change  these  names;  and  if  you  should 
lose  them  quickly  return  them.    And  should 
you  forfeit  them,  make  haste  to  reclaim  them. 
The  open  mind,  remember,  should  import 
discriminating  observation  and  attention  ;  the 
even  mind  unforced  acceptance  of  the  appor- 
tionments of  nature;  the  high  mind  sovereignty 
of  the  intelligence  over  the  physical  currents, 
smooth  or  rough,  over  vainglory,  death,  or 
any  other  trial.    Keep  true  to  these  attributes, 
without  pining  for  recognition  of  the  same  by 
others,   and   a   changed  man   you  will   enter 
upon  a  changed  life.    To  go  on  being  what 
you  have  been  hitherto,  to  lead  a  life  still  so 
distracted  and  polluted,  were  stupidity  and 
cowardice    indeed,   worthy   of  the    mangled 
gladiators  who,  torn  and  disfigured,  cry  out 
to  be  remanded   till  to-morrow,  to  be  flung 
once  more  to  the  same  fangs  and  claws.  Enter 
your  claim  then  to  these  few  attributes.  And 

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SELECTIONS  —  MARCUS  AURELIUS 

if  stand  fast  in  them  you  can,  stand  fast  —  as 
one  translated  indeed  to  Islands  of  the  Blessed. 
But  if  you  find  yourself  falling  away  and 
beaten  in  the  fight,  be  a  man  and  get  away  to 
some  quiet  corner,  where  you  can  still  hold 
on,  or  in  the  last  resort  take  leave  of  life,  not 
angrily  but  simply,  freely,  modestly,  achiev- 
ing at  least  this  much  of  life,  brave  leaving  of 
it.  In  order,  however,  to  the  remembrance 
of  these  attributes,  it  will  greatly  help  you,  if 
you  keep  in  mind  the  gods,  and  that  they 
wish  not  to  be  flattered,  but  wish  all  reasona- 
ble beings  to  be  made  like  themselves ;  and 
if  you  remember  that  what  does  the  work  of 
a  fig-tree  is  a  fig-tree,  and  that  what  does  the 
work  of  a  dog  is  a  dog,  and  that  what  does 
the  work  of  a  bee  is  a  bee,  and  that  what  does 
the  work  of  a  man  is  a  man. 

19.     One  universe,   one   God^   one   reason^   one 

truth. 

All  things  are  interwoven  one  with  the 
other,  and  are  tied  together  in  a  sacred  bond ; 
and  no  one  thing  hardly  is  unrelated  to  an- 
other ;  since  all  things  are  coordinated,  and 

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GREEK  AND  ROMAN  STOICISM 

combine  to  adorn  the  same  universe.  For 
there  is  but  one  universe  made  up  of  all 
things,  and  one  God  pervading  all,  one  sub- 
stance and  one  law,  one  common  reason  in 
all  intelligent  creatures,  and  one  truth ;  if  so 
be,  that  there  is  also  one  perfection  for  all 
creatures  possessing  the  same  nature  and  par- 
taking the  same  reason. 

20.  Imitation  of  Antoninus  the  way  of  life  and 

comfort  in  death. 

Take  care  that  you  become  not  too  much 
of  a  Caesar,  or  be  dyed  with  that  dye ;  for  it 
may  happen  so.  Keep  yourself  simple,  good, 
sincere,  grave,  unaffected,  a  friend  to  justice, 
God-fearing,  considerate,  affectionate,  and 
strenuous  in  duty.  Struggle  to  remain  such 
as  philosophy  would  have  you.  Reverence 
the  gods  and  help  mankind.  Lijejts  short ; 
and  the  one  fruit  of  this  earthly  existence  is 
a  pious  disposition,  and  unselfish  acts.  Do 
everything  as  a  disciple  of  Antoninus.  Re- 
member his  resolute  championship  of  reason, 
his  unvarying  equability,  his  holiness,  his 
serenity  of  look,  his  affability,  his  dislike  of 

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ostentation,  his  keenness  for  certitude  about 
the  facts  ;  how  he  would  never  drop  a  sub- 
ject until  he  saw  into  it  thoroughly  and  un- 
derstood clearly ;  how  he  bore  unjust  re- 
proaches without  a  word ;  how  he  was  never 
in  a  hurry ;  how  he  gave  no  ear  to  slander ; 
how  accurately  he  scrutinized  character  and 
action  ;  not  given  to  reprimand  nor  frightened 
by  clamor,  not  suspicious  nor  sophistical ;  how 
little  contented  him  in  the  way  of  lodging, 
bed,  clothes,  food  and  service  ;  how  industri- 
ous and  patient  he  was,  how  firm  and  steady 
in  his  friendships,  how  tolerant  of  such  as 
openly  opposed  his  views,  and  how  pleased 
if  any  one  pointed  out  a  better  course ;  finally, 
how  religious  without  a  spark  of  superstition. 
Imitate  him  in  these,  that  your  last  hour  may 
find  you  with  a  conscience  as  clear  as  his. 

Recall  your  true,  your  sober  self;  shake 
off"  the  slumber  and  realize  that  they  were 
dreams  that  troubled  you.  Now  wide  awake 
once  more,  look  on  it  all  as  a  dream. 


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